Gabriel, Interrupted
by AuntMo
Summary: When Lucifer stabbed Gabriel, he didn't die; he ended up in a different dimension. One in which he has all of his memories, but none of his powers. A dimension where people think he is crazy & needs psychiatric help & where Supernatural is just a TV show.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A rather short chapter to start off with, but it is really more of an introduction. There is more to come.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

The sound of telephone ringing startled her awake. She rolled over and groaned. The worst part of this job was the on-call schedule. You never got a full night's sleep being on-call. And at thirty-nine, she spent way too many years without getting a full night's sleep. Rubbing the heel of her hand in her eye, she looked at the caller ID before answering the phone. "Jerry, this had better be good. The bags under my eyes are already too big to qualify as carry-on luggage for most major airlines and you just woke me from some much needed beauty sleep."

"Aw, I'm sorry Till, but I heard a rumor going around that you had an open bed and I got a guy here that's going to need it."

"Seriously? Tonight?" Tillie Chambers asked incredulously, stifling a yawn. "It's 2 a.m. You can't admit him for the night and give me time to move him in the morning?"

"No, not really," Jerry replied. "Sure the guy has his issues, but nothing that requires an involuntary admission and he sure as hell isn't going to sign himself in."

"Then let him walk," Tillie huffed. "I know it sounds callous, but it wouldn't be the first time you guys let someone go AMA."

"I know, but the guy has no ID, no money, and he has been stirring up just enough trouble that the cops want him off the street. I would owe you big time if you could help me out."

Tillie sighed. "Give me an hour. I'll be there." Tillie grabbed a T-shirt and jeans off the pile on the floor and threw her hair into a ponytail before getting dressed, slipping on some tennis shoes and grabbing her zippered hoodie and her car keys. "I guess I'll sleep some other time," she muttered to herself as she walked out the door.

When she arrived there forty-five minutes later, she didn't even have to ask the attendant at the front desk of the ER which room he was in. All she needed to do was follow the shouting.

"You people are going to regret treating me like this, ya know! When I get my powers back, you'll thank me if the only thing I do is smite your asses! I have been known to do much worse! And why the hell hasn't anyone brought me any chocolate?"

Tillie stopped at a nearby vending machine before entering the room and armed herself with candy. A well-worn veteran at dealing with agitated people, she hoped that giving the guy something he wanted would start them off on the right foot. Or at least shut him up long enough for her to find out what was going on. But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw upon entering the room. It wasn't upturned chairs or the discarded clothes and blankets strewn around the room. That was pretty standard fare when you walked into a psych room in the ER. It wasn't even the fact that the guy was in four-point soft restraints and surround by two goons from security. No, it was _who_ the guy was that threw her for a loop. She did a double take before turning to the man who had actually called in her to deal with this mess.

"Jerry!" she yelled. "What the hell is this? Some kind of practical joke?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to her, all of them just now noticing that she had entered the room.

"Well, hello there doll," the man in restraints said. "Did you come to join my party? I have to say, you're a much better addition than any of these mooks."

Ignoring him, Tillie quickly zipped up her hoodie, hoping no one noticed she was wearing her Pig 'N A Poke T-Shirt. "Jerry, can I have a word outside, please. NOW!"

As she turned to walk out of the room, Jerry quickly followed her.

"What's the deal, Till?" Jerry asked. "Why are you so upset about picking up some guy who needs at bed at your group home?"

"Who is this guy, Jerry?" Tillie demanded. "What's his name?"

"I told you on the phone, he doesn't have any ID," Jerry replied. "And you heard him. He is pretty belligerent. He won't give us a name. What's got you so rattled, Till. Why do you think I am pranking you?"

"Have you looked at the guy, Jer? Doesn't he look the least bit familiar to you at all? Maybe like a certain television actor." she pressed.

"Um, no not really. But I'm more into reality shows. Ya' know I haven't missed an episode of Project Runway or Jersey Shore yet."

Tillie raised a wary eyebrow him. "Fine," she conceded. "Let me make a few phone calls before you start putting your discharge paper work together, though."

As Jerry walked away, Tillie dug her phone out of her pocket. Her first phone call was not a standard middle of the night social work call to make. As it rang, she hoped it wasn't too late, but considering Rachel was out on the west coast and she was at the con, she didn't think she was pushing her luck.

"Till, is that you?" Rachel asked, answering her phone.

"Yeah, Rach, it's me. How's it going?"

"Oh my god Till! It's freaking amazing!" Rachel shouted into the phone. "You should have come out here and stayed with me. I have never been to anything like this before. And this karaoke thing going on tonight is awesome! I would have never guessed that Richard would actually join in. It is so cool!"

"That's great Rachel," Tillie sighed. "I'm glad you're having a good time. You'll have to tell me more about it later."

"So why did you call, Till? It must be like, the middle of the night there."

"Yeah, it is…I just got one of those calls, ya know, and I am stuck at the hospital right now. So I thought I would check on you." It wasn't a complete lie, Tillie thought to herself, but she wasn't going to try to explain to her friend exactly why she had called when wasn't even sure herself. "I need to get going though, Rach. I will talk to you later, 'kay?"

"M'kay. Bye, Till. Try to get some sleep soon," Rachel encouraged her friend before ending the call.

Next Tillie called the group home and had her staff start preparing the extra room so it would ready by the time they got there. Once that was settled, she walked back into the room. She looked at the man in the restraints again. She knew for sure he wasn't, well he wasn't Richard. But he sure as hell looked an awful lot like him. His hair was a lighter shade and those eyes…they were the most disturbing color of amber she had ever seen on a person. It was time to find out just who he was and what problems brought him here.

She walked over to the bed and sat down on it next to him. The security goon looked at her like she was crazy. "I wouldn't do that if I were you ma'am" he suggested.

Tillie ignored him and kept her attention on the man in the bed. She pulled a candy bar out of the pocket of her hoodie. "I heard you wanted some chocolate," she offered.

"Lady, you're either the nicest person in this place, or the worst torturer around," the man answered wiggling his fingers. "I am tied down here and I can't eat that on my own. Unless you want to feed it to me." He looked her in the eyes and wiggled his eyebrows.

Tillie didn't answer him, but set the candy bar on his stomach.

"I guess I am going with torturer, then?" he ventured. But then Tillie started to do untie the restraints on his right hand before opening the wrapper on the candy bar and handing it to him. "I'm glad I got it wrong," he said in between bites. "You _are_ the nicest person around here."

"So, are you willing to tell me how you ended up here," Tillie asked.

"Sweetheart, I am not even sure where here is. The last thing I remember is my brother trying to shiv me over some family feud, and then I wake up in an alley without any of my…" his voice trailing off.

Instinctively, Tillie looked him over for any sign of injury, but didn't see any. "Without what? I heard you yelling when I was in the hallway. You were going on about getting your powers back and smiting people," she pointed out to him. "What was that all about?"

He shook his head. "When I bring that stuff up people seem to think I am crazy," he sighed. "It must have just been a dream."

"Well, I have never used the word crazy when talking to you. And you did sound pretty sure of yourself earlier," Tillie reassured him. "But if you want to talk about it later, just let me know.

It was his turn to look at her like she was crazy. "Now," she asked pointedly, "can you tell me your name?"

"Well," he hesitated. "I've gone by plenty to of names over the years. But you…you doll face, you can call me Gabriel."

**A/N: This story was inspired, in part, by ****Wandering Hitokiri****'s Problem Girl, here on and candylovinangel's A Graceful Combination over on livejournal. But it is also influenced by my twenty years of working in social services. So I guess there is some self-insert here. But I will say that my main OC, Tillie, will say and do things that I would never do because 1) she is dealing with Gabriel and he would drive anyone to do and say things people would not normally do, and 2) I am probably using this as an opportunity to vent and say things I would never be allowed to say and do as a professional (but have certainly crossed my mind).**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of the wonderful feedback I recieved on the first chapter. I hope you continue to enjoy this story.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

Gabriel, huh? Tillie thought to herself trying to keep her expression even. This guy thought he was Gabriel. Well, he didn't do himself any favors when he looked in the mirror each morning. But she was going to have to tread lightly when dealing with him. She didn't want to encourage any of his delusional thoughts, but at the same time, right now she needed to get him to trust her so they could get all of these restraints off and get him out of here safely.

"So, Gabriel," she began with a smile, pushing a stray brown curl out of her face. "I'm Tillie. Now, can you tell me, once you woke up in that alley, what were the events that led to you being brought in to the hospital? Do you remember that much?"

"Some drunk guy with T-Rex breath was hovering over me, asking me if I had any cigarettes. When I told him to take a hike, he got offended and started yelling at me," Gabriel explained. "That attracted the attention of some local cops on patrol, so I tried to skedaddle outta there, but apparently a snap of the fingers ain't what it used to be, and when I kept trying, they thought I was listening to a song only I could hear, so they suggested I take a ride with them and we ended up here."

Tillie pinched the bridge of nose and slowly exhaled. Snapping his fingers? This guy was certainly invested in his delusion. She didn't even have to ask Jerry. By the look of the room and what she heard earlier, she was certain that they dismissed his beliefs as him being just another crazy patient. But if this guy had delusional disorder like she suspected, he would have reacted with hostility the moment they did that. And the result was the disaster before her, including the restraints.

Just then, Jerry walked into the room. "Okay then," he announced, looking at Gabriel. "I have your discharge paperwork, including prescriptions for your medications and a follow-up appointment scheduled with Dr. Habib for next week. All I need you to do is sign on the bottom and you are free to leave with Tillie."

"Medications?" Gabriel asked, raising his voice. "I am not taking medications. I don't need any medications! There is nothing wrong with me. Well, not that medications will fix."

"So I take it a shot of Haldol for the road is out?" Jerry quipped.

"Can it Jerry," Tillie butted in. "Look Gabriel, you don't have to fill the prescriptions. He just wants you to sign the paperwork and take it out of here. We can talk about what you actually do with it once we leave."

"Fine, sweetheart," Gabriel answered, grabbing the paperwork and scribbling something indistinguishable on the bottom. "I don't know why you're the only one with a lick of sense around here. Now let's blow this popsicle stand."

"Well, first you need to get out of that gown and into your street clothes," Tillie suggested. "Then we can go. I will be waiting outside in the hall." Tillie walked out into the hall with Jerry.

"You want someone to escort you guys to the parking garage?" he asked.

She turned on him. "You guys never learn do, you?"

"What? The guy thinks he's an angel. He was threatening to destroy us and send our atoms into the farthest reaches of space."

"Yeah, and um, he also said he lost his powers, so I think you could've just let it go," she shot back. "I'm sure I will be fine without your help."

Gabriel chose that moment to exit the room. "Alright, I'm already ready to go. So, your place or mine?" he asked with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Real cute," Tillie said. "Now let's just go. I am as ready to get out of here as you are." They made their way to Tillie's s car in silence. As they were getting into her car, Gabriel finally spoke up.

"Not that I want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but what brings a person to the hospital in the middle of the night to help a total stranger?" he wondered.

Of course they didn't tell him, she thought to herself. And now she was alone with the guy in her car. She couldn't exactly say the words "group home" and expect him to react positively. She was so going to kill Jerry. Busy ER or not, he needed to improve how he dealt with his psychiatric patients. "It's what I do. I help people who need it."

"You're in the habit of taking total strangers into your home? Is that even safe?" he asked incredulously. "My brother is so wrong about humans. It was worth standing up to him."

Ignoring the last half of his statement, she explained to him, "I don't take people into my personal home. However, I run another place where people who, well, let's just say their down on their luck, and they can stay there until they get back on their feet again."

"And you're taking me there? To stay with other strangers?"

"Yep."

"I'm not sure I like that idea, lady."

"Not to be mean or anything," Tillie said. "But exactly what other choices do you have? You didn't really want to be in the hospital and I don't blame you one bit for that. It is almost 5 a.m. You have no money and no ID. I don't even know your last name. Where else are you going to?"

"Fine," Gabriel surrendered, raising his hands. "I'll try it, but just for a day or two. And only because you run it. But if it's too weird or the food is bad, I'm out of there."

Tillie just rolled her eyes as Gabriel changed the topic. "I want to ask you something else, but you will think I'm crazy."

"Hey, I've already told you, I've never used the word crazy when talking about you," she chided, trying to ease his concerns.

"That doesn't mean you aren't thinking that I am crazy," Gabriel muttered.

Tillie gave him a sideways glance, wondering if anything about her body language gave her away, or if he was just beginning to be uneasy with his own delusions.

"You can tell me or ask me anything," she reassured.

"Where are we? I, mean, what city?" Gabriel asked.

"St. Louis…Missouri," Tillie shared. "Why? Where is the last place you remember being?"

"Muncie, Indiana," he offered. "And I have no idea how I got here. In fact I thought I was dead."

I'm sure you did, Tillie thought to herself, as she pulled into the drive at the group home. So much for him being uneasy with his own delusions. "We're here," she announced.

Gabriel eyed the large Victorian home with surprise. "It's bigger, and nicer than I thought it would be," he admitted.

"Well, just because I help people who are down on their luck doesn't mean I expect them to stay in a complete dump," Tillie responded. "I want people to feel safe and welcomed when they are here. So come on in and I will show you around."

The home was indeed large. The were two bedrooms and a bathroom on the main level, in addition to the living room, dining room and kitchen. There were four more bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor. "The laundry room is in the basement. And you will have the last room on the right down at the end of the hall," Tillie explained.

"What's up there?" Gabriel asked pointing up the stairs at the end of the hall.

"That's the attic, which has been converted into my office," was Tillie's reply. "So here you go. It's not much, but it is clean and it's yours for now. I suggest you get some sleep, because in a few hours, we need to work on getting you some identification and other basics like clothes. I am going to have one of my staff bring you some towels and a change of clothes for the later this morning. We usually serve breakfast at eight in the morning, but if you want to sleep a little later, we will save you something to eat. Any questions?"

Gabriel looked around the room. "No," he said shaking his head. "I think you covered it all for now. I am not used to sleeping, but whatever power shortage I have going on, I think I could use a nap. But I am definitely not missing a meal, so you can count on me being there for breakfast."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a few hours." With that, Tillie left Gabriel on his own in the room, and went up to her office. She didn't have time to go home to get any sleep, or even shower, so she would just have to catch a nap on the couch in her office. She took off her hoodie and threw it on the back of the couch, grabbed a pillow and blanket and settled in, trying to push aside thoughts of Gabriel.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel sat up in the bed, rubbed a hand across his face and looked around the sparse room again. He had only gotten a little sleep and was surprised that he still felt like he needed more. But his stomach was actually growling. Before, he had always eaten for pleasure. Now he was hungry. He looked over at the clock. It was 7:30 a.m. He still had some time before breakfast.

He still didn't understand how in ended up in St. Louis. One minute his was standing up to Lucifer on behalf of humans and taking a knife to the chest for his efforts. The next he was waking up in alley with a drunk guy over him. And for his efforts, he was rewarded with a loss of his powers and hauled off to the hospital like he was out of his ever loving mind. If it hadn't been for Tillie, he would probably be in a padded cell somewhere right now. While his current digs weren't up to his usual standards, it could be worse. And it would at least be somewhere he could stay while he tried to figure out how to get back his powers.

There was a knock on the door. Gabriel looked up to see a tall man with dark hair and eyes standing in the doorway. "Hello," he said with a deep voice. "I just came by to check on you."

"Yeah," Gabriel replied. "Tillie said someone would be coming by. I am guessing that would be you."

The man raised his eyebrow at that but said nothing, so Gabriel continued. "So are you an orderly or something?"

"I guess you could say it is my responsibility to keep order," the man replied with a smile.

"You're kinda of strange, you know that? You seem familiar, too. Have we met before?" Gabriel asked as he got out of the bed. "And hey, did you bring the towels and clothes that Tillie promised?"

"No," the man answered. "We haven't met before and I didn't bring the those things. I suppose someone else will have to do that."

"Then why even bother stopping by my room?" Gabriel griped.

The man stepped forward and placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "I know you don't want to be here right now, and you are confused by many things. But trust me when I say that this is the safest place for you at the moment, and you are in good hands with Tillie." At that, the man turned and left.

Gabriel just rolled his eyes and began looking through the small closet and dresser drawers to see if he could find anything of use to him.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Aaron Steeple had worked at Tillie Chambers' group home for nearly the last two years while he was going to grad school. He knew the inner working of the home almost as well as he knew Tillie. So he knew she was exhausted right now. He was going to get this new guy some supplies before starting on breakfast so she could get as much sleep as possible. As he made his way down the hallway on the second floor, he saw a man with dark hair leaving the guy's room. "Excuse me, can I help you?" Aaron called out.

"Oh, I'm just helping out," the man said. "Checking on the new guy."

"Who exactly are you?" Aaron asked skeptically. "I've never seen you before and Tillie didn't say anything about a new employee."

"Oh, the temp agency sent me over to help out. My name's Michael. I need to go downstairs and take care of few things. The new guy is looking for that stuff." The man pointed to the towels and clothes Aaron held in hands and then went downstairs. Aaron continued on to take the supplies to Gabriel's room and made a mental note to ask Tillie about this guy from the temp agency later.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie was having disturbing dreams about Gabriel following her around at Comic Con, demanding explanations and only having his delusions being reinforced by unsuspecting fans, when a knock at her office door woke her up. She groggily answered "Come in" and saw Aaron Steeple peek his head around the corner.

"I hate to wake you, Till, but we are serving breakfast and I know you have a full day ahead of you, trying to get Gabriel settled in."

"Thanks Aaron," she mumbled. "Any chance there is coffee downstairs?"

"Got a full pot read to go," Aaron smiled. "Hey, Till, in all the confusion with the new guy last night, did you forget to tell us about the fact that you had a temp agency sending us someone to help out?"

"What?" Tillie exclaimed sitting up quickly. "I didn't have anyone coming from a temp agency. What are you talking about?"

"There was some guy up in Gabriel's room. Said his name was Michael and that a temp agency sent him."

But before Tillie could ask Aaron any more questions, they were interrupted by shouting coming from the dining room downstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued feedback. I have to say, it has been very interesting to see people pondering and questioning who Michael is and what is intentions towards Gabriel are. I guess we will have to see, won't we? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

As Tillie and Aaron quickly headed to the dining room from her attic office, she soon realized the shouting that she was hearing was more or less like organized chanting.

"We want pancakes! Cream of Wheat sucks! We want pancakes! Cream of Wheat sucks!" was the rallying cry of all the residents who were sitting around the kitchen table, as they banged their knives and forks on the tabletop. All residents, that is, except one. Gabriel was sitting at the head of the table casually observing everyone else in their morning rebellion over breakfast food. Almost too casually.

"What is going on here?" Tillie demanded trying to raise her voice over the ruckus towards Jenny Howard, a young blond who was a freshman at a local college and had only started her shift an hour ago. Jenny, who was already looking more frazzled than Tillie, attempted to answer, but one of the residents responded first.

"We don't want Cream of Wheat for breakfast," announced Gene Watkins, one of the long term residents. "It's boring. We want pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes! With chocolate syrup and whipped cream!" Gene's response was met with a chorus of "yes" and he crossed his arms over his chest as if in victory.

Tillie shot a glare at Gabriel. She was almost sure he was behind this. "Well, why didn't you just ask? We've have always done our best to make what you want to eat before. Why all the shouting?" Immediately all the residents started to murmur among themselves, realizing their mistake. As Tillie made her way over to Gabriel, Bob Gentry grabbed her by the wrist.

"Tillie," he whispered nervously. "He said the Cream of Wheat would turn into quicksand once we ate it and make our stomachs and intestines get sucked into a black hole."

Tillie had to bite back her anger when she answered Bob. "He was just pulling your leg, Bob, to get you to do what he wanted. That won't happen if you eat Cream of Wheat, I promise" she tried to reassure him. Looking up at Gabriel out of the corner of her eye, she saw him rearranging the salt and pepper shakers, only to have Dave Edwards, who had a severe case of OCD, move them back again. Gabriel continued to play this game with Dave until Tillie walked up to him and seized his shirt sleeve.

"Hey! Watch the merchandise," he grumbled, trying to shrink back unsuccessfully from her grasp.

"You're coming with me now," she ground out as she dragged him into the living room. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked with feigned innocence.

"Cut the crap. You know exactly what I am talking about. You haven't even been here one day and you are stirring up trouble."

"So I wanted pancakes for breakfast instead of slop," he shrugged.

"And you felt the need to start a revolt over it? All you had to do was ask!" Tillie shouted.

"The chick in the kitchen didn't look like the type who was willing to negotiate," Gabriel tried to defend himself. "So I explored other solutions."

"Which included playing on the fears of a paranoid schizophrenic man and toying with someone who has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "I gotta say, Tillie, the other guys who live here are absolutely crazy."

Tillie got right up in Gabriel's face, shoving her finger in his chest with each word. "Don't. You. Dare." she growled. "I haven't called you crazy and you don't get to call them crazy either. People come here because they need help and I'm not about to let you play mind games just because you think…" Tillie swallowed the rest of the words when she remembered he needed help, too, and he wasn't ready to face his delusions. She had nearly called him out on playing the Trickster. If she wasn't careful, his antics would get to her.

"Just because I think what?" he asked, snapping her back to attention.

"Just because you think you are better than them," she sighed. "Look, you might be without whatever powers you think you're missing, but you've clearly demonstrated this morning that you still have the power of observation. You picked up on quite a bit about these guys in a short amount of time. I am going to warn you one time and one time only that the other residents who live here are completely off limits when it comes to any tricks or practical jokes you think you want to play while you are living you here. Are we clear?"

As he thought about this, he looked her over and then paled. "What is that?" pointing her shirt.

Tillie looked down and realized that she was no longer wearing her hoodie and her Pig 'N A Poke T-Shirt, though wrinkled from her brief nap on the couch, was in full view. "A...a shirt," she stammered. "Most people consider it common decency to wear one when in public."

"Not just the shirt," he grumbled, his voice suddenly low. "The bit about the Pig 'N A Poke. What is that supposed to be about?"

"Just…just a representation of classic Americana," she said, trying to cover her nervousness. Or at least she hoped so. She never was a very good liar. But now was not the time to have the "_Supernatural_ is just a television show" conversation. "Growing up, my family's idea of a vacation included road trips with stops at various diners along the way. This is just a piece of nostalgia representing a part of my childhood." The vacation part wasn't a lie, so she hoped that was convincing enough. He let out the breath he was holding in, so she thought she was good. "We're done here, so why don't you go eat. We'll talk later."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel managed to get his pancakes for breakfast, but he wasn't sure it was worth the effort. He didn't want to eat disgusting Cream of Wheat and thought getting everyone riled up would be a fun way to get pancakes instead. However, he had managed to really piss off Tillie in the process and she was the only person who had truly shown an interest in helping him up to now. He also saw that stupid Pig 'N A Poke T-shirt she was wearing and was reminded not only of the Winchesters, but just how truly cruel he could be when he was screwing around with people's lives. For a second there, he really wondered if someone here knew who he really was and was trying to send him a message, but he pushed that thought aside quickly. No one could possibly know that much about him, could they?

But the whole encounter had left him nauseous. He barely touched his pancakes. He only made the attempt because one of the staff, Aaron, had been watching him like a hawk since the "Great Pancake Rebellion". He also had a terrible headache, which sucked. As an archangel, he wasn't used to having pain that he couldn't heal, let alone a pounding headache. Ever since he got here, the light and the noise were getting to him, making the headache worse. The light everywhere seemed brighter and the noises seemed louder. Everything seemed slightly off to him and he couldn't quite place his finger on why.

After breakfast, Aaron followed him and cornered him in the hallway.

"Gabriel, wait up," Aaron called out.

Gabriel moaned, but stopped anyway. He really just wanted to go get some more sleep and try to get rid of this headache. "What is it?"

"We still need to complete your intake paperwork," the grad student instructed.

"Can't this wait? I really don't feel good," Gabriel complained. "Surely Tillie and I can take care of this later."

"No, it can't wait," Aaron insisted. "And you're going to do it with me. Tillie is exhausted. And whatever crap you've been pulling with Tillie, I'm not letting you get away with anymore, so go sit at the dining room table and we can take care of this now."

Gabriel grumbled, but went and sat back down.

"First off, I'll need a last name and a date of birth," Aaron said.

Gabriel smirked. "I don't have one."

"Don't have one, what?" Aaron demanded "A last name? A birthday?"

"Neither, actually," Gabriel said with a smile.

"What do you mean you have neither? You don't remember?"

"No," Gabriel answered. "I would remember if I had a last name. And I wasn't actually born, so I can't really have a date of birth."

"This is the kind of crap I was talking about," Aaron snapped. "Quit horsing around. I don't know what kind of game you are playing, but there is no way you could have gotten through life without a last name or a date of birth. People need those things to get identification, jobs, benefits, you name it. And you need it to stay here."

"What can I say?" Gabriel said, "I have just gotten by on my charm."

"You know what, I'm sick of this already. So between you and me, I am going to make up a damn last name and date of birth. And I know a guy, he can get you all the identification you need, state ID, birth certificates, whatever. By the time I come back for my next shift you will have it. But you aren't to say anything to Tillie about where it came from, you got that?"

Gabriel gaped at him. "Isn't that…well, illegal?"

"That is why Tillie isn't to know anything about it. She would never approve of anything like this. But you are being such a pig-headed fool about all of this. And it is the only way I can see to get approval for funding for you to stay here. So keep your trap shut about it, got it?" With that, Aaron got up from the table, walked away and left Gabriel by himself.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Two imposing figures casually leaned against the landmark. If any humans had seen them, it would have created more than a stir. It would likely have induced chaos and panic. But at the moment, they were unseen by human eyes, for they were in their true form. The metallic arch they were leaning against was the identifying marker of the city in which they were watching over on their current mission. In their true form, they were more than twice the size of the monument, but they still found it a convenient place to meet.

"How is he doing?" the younger of the two asked.

"As well as can be expected, given the circumstances. He is without his powers. And he has no idea where he really is. But I am sure he will to start to put together the pieces of the puzzle soon enough."

"Did he recognize you?"

"Not entirely, but I did seem familiar to him, so I will have to limit my interaction with him from now on. This is why I am dealing with him and not you. He would have sooner recognized you, for you would have seemed more..."

"Like the other side of a coin?" the younger one finished.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "Which is why you will have to handle the woman."

"It shouldn't be anymore difficult than the challenge you have." He paused for a moment. "Does the enemy know of his whereabouts?"

"No," the older one said, shaking his head. "But it is our presence here that will attract the enemy's attention. So that is even more reason for us to be cautious, otherwise they will be in even more danger."

"Did anyone else see you?"

"Only one of the employees. But it was an insignificant interaction. In the greater scheme of things, it will hardly impact what we have to accomplish."

The younger one chuckled. "These inter-dimensional missions are rare, but I do enjoy them, because the regular rules don't apply."

"You know, you are really more like him than you care to admit, aren't you? You really are two sides to same coin."

"Careful brother or I will start comparing you to your unlikely counterpart," the younger on chided.

Caught up in their own conversation, they did not realize that their entire interaction was being observed by one of their tiniest enemies.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued interest and feedback.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

It wasn't until the next day that Gabriel got rid of his headache. But he still couldn't shake the feeling that things seemed off. The lights still seemed too bright to him, the noises still seemed too loud. He also hadn't yet figured out how to go about restoring his Grace and thereby his powers. Without them, he couldn't really reach out and try to sense any of the others in the Host. Not that there were many among them that he would trust to help him out of his current dilemma. Castiel was probably the only one he would remotely consider asking for help, but after their last encounter in TV land, he doubted the kid would be willing to do him any favors.

That didn't mean he still wasn't willing to try reaching out to his younger bro. Heck, he had spent half the night doing just that. Except he had to do it the human way. And how humbling was that? Calling out in prayer to your kid brother. Dad help him if anyone, especially if the Winchesters, found out about it. But it hadn't done any good. No one had shown up to help him. So it looked like he was on his own.

He decided to spend the morning looking for signs of the Apocalypse in the news. Maybe if he could find a trail of destruction across the country that might lead him to the brother that got him into this mess. Not that he wanted see dear old Luci again. But if he found him, surely the muttonheads wouldn't be far behind trying to put a stop to Lucifer's plans. Especially if they had followed the instructions he had left them on his little home video. And where the muttonheads were, then Castiel was likely to be with them.

But that too was a dead end. First of all, he couldn't use the television. At least not yet. That had been made utterly clear to him by Mr. Dave Edwards. There was a schedule to keep, and bless his little OCD heart, Dave was going to make sure that they all followed it. Apparently, as the new guy, he got to have control of the remote each day from 1 pm-2 pm and every Thursday night. So the news channels would have to wait. On the upside, he might be able to catch the latest _Dr. Sexy, M.D._ when it aired this week. And he would have searched the newspapers if they had been available. But apparently, today was recycling day, and they had already been picked up by the local trash service.

So he went in search of Tillie, to see if she had a computer he could use to look up news stories. What he found was the lower half of a human body sticking out from under the kitchen sink. "Tillie?" he asked hesitantly. "Gotta a minute?"

"Can it wait?" came the muffled response. "Kinda of busy here."

"Everything alright under there?" he ventured.

"Oh yeah, sure. This is just where I like to spend my coffee breaks," Tillie said as she came out from under the sink with a grease smudge on her forehead, wrench in her hand. "Actually, I'm trying to fix the garbage disposal. It seems that it can't handle the combination of too much Cream of Wheat and grease being dumped down the sink."

"Oh, geesh. Sorry about that," Gabriel said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, if it's any consolation," Tillie offered, "I think the grease is the real culprit. Most people don't realize how bad that is for pipes. Now, did you need something, or can I go back to being a plumber?"

"You don't pay someone else to do that for you?" he pried.

"Not if it is something I can do myself. It is how you save money, and when you run a place like this, every dime helps," she replied. "So?"

"Oh, yeah, um…do you have a computer I could use?"

"Why do you need a computer?" Tillie eyed him skeptically. "You're not using any computer in this building for porn, I'll tell you that right now. But Aaron did tell me you remembered a place where you might have a few possessions, including some ID. So maybe you want to research jobs or something for when you have your stuff back and are able to work? That I would allow."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows. So Aaron had already come up with a lie for how he would suddenly have ID and had told Tillie but not him? That guy was a piece of work. He was definitely going to have to keep an eye on him. "Erm…research…yeah," Gabriel answered.

"Okay," Tillie said. "I'm about done here. Just give me a few minutes and I'll get you set up on a laptop."

Tillie got him set up on the laptop shortly thereafter and he began searching for news stories. But that, too, seemed to be a dead end, for there was nothing out of the ordinary in the news. Sure, you had your regular wars going on, as wells crime sprees, economic collapses and natural disasters. There were even a few things that might attract the attention of a hunter or two. But nothing that screamed "Apocalypse Now-ish." He banged on the keyboard in frustration. This was getting him nowhere.

"Hey!" Tillie exclaimed. "What'd the computer do to you? Not finding anything?"

"No, not really," he grumbled. And then, something on the bottom right hand corner of the computer screen caught his attention. That couldn't be right, could it?

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

She was small, so small most would consider her insignificant. But it was an error in judgment to do so. For while the capacity to sin did lie within the human heart, and the responsibility for each choice belonged to the person who made it, it was her job to take things like insecurity, boredom, irritability and sadness and help them grow. Grow so that person who harbored those feelings would be more open to making poor choices, more open to falling into sin, and more importantly, more open to the manipulations of her superiors. Superiors who could possess humans or make deals with them. Hence, despite her stature, she was quite important. For she was the first line of attack in the war against humanity.

Despite her importance, for the majority of her existence, she was used to being ignored. She was ignored by the humans she was sent to infiltrate, she was ignored by her superiors and she was ignored by the enemy, who usually didn't even notice her presence. That was the case now. They had failed to notice her, so she had been able to overhear the entire conversation.

This is how she learned about an inter-dimensional mission, whatever that was, while trying to play on the social insecurities of one Debbie Mayer. She quickly abandoned Debbie for the time being in order to more fully listen to the two angels conversing. Apparently this mission also involved two others, a male and female, and more importantly, the angles were concerned about attracting the enemy's attention. That included her, and more likely, her superiors. She had information her superiors would value. Information that could perhaps lead her to a promotion.

The question at hand for her was, did she continue to follow the angels and try to gather more information, or immediately report what she already knew to her superiors?

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"Tillie, is this right?" Gabriel demanded.

"Is what right?" she asked, walking over to the computer.

"The date, here on the bottom corner of the screen," he pointed out.

"Well, yeah, why?" Tillie watched him with concern, wondering what could have upset him. "Is something wrong?"

Gabriel just stared at the computer. This changed everything. The date in the lower right hand corner showed that it was February of 2011. More than a year after he had been in Muncie. How had he missed all of that time? Had he been dead for that long, only to have his Dad stick him back in the world? And why did he turn up over three hundred miles away from where he died and without his Grace? Did Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber really manage to avert the Apocalypse? Is that why his news search turned up nothing? He had more questions than answers. This was getting him nowhere.

"Everything and nothing" he finally said, slowly exhaling. "I think I am done researching for now. Maybe I'll go use my television time to try and find some mindless entertainment."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie was worried about Gabriel. Whatever it was that he had been researching, in combination with today's date, of all things, seemed to trigger a reaction in him. While she wanted him to become uncomfortable with his delusions and start to face reality, she also wanted him to talk about those things and not keep them bottled up. She also needed him to have funding in place to afford a psychiatrist or at least a doctor who would be willing to see him at no charge until funding was available. But she wasn't sure he was ready to admit he needed a doctor.

Fortunately, Aaron was true to his word. When he came in that afternoon, he had a birth certificate and social security card for Gabriel. According to Aaron, Gabriel had told him that he had a memory of an apartment on the south side of town. Aaron had only found a few clothes and the few pieces of ID there. Aaron said it didn't even looked lived in. But she could use those things to help Gabriel get a state ID card, as well as apply for state funding.

She went to find Gabriel so they could start the process for applying for funding. When she found him, he was in the living room arguing with Gene Watkins over a television show.

"It's a blatant rip off, I tell you!" Gabriel complained. "I don't know how these people aren't getting sued. All of the characters, the storylines, everything! It is like they just changed the names and called it their own."

"They're not going to get sued, because there is no show called _Dr. Sexy, M.D._" Gene told him. "Seriously, dude. Do you live in some kind of fantasy world? I'm mean, _Grey's Anatomy_ isn't my cup of tea to begin with, but I don't go inventing my own TV programs."

Tillie froze. Gabriel was watching _Grey's Anatomy_ and he was arguing with Gene. He thought _Grey's_ was a rip-off of _Dr. Sexy_. Every time she thought he was closer to reality, something like this smacked her in the face. He didn't seem to crack at all. That wasn't typical. He should be struggling when confronted with these realities.

She took a deep breath. "Gabriel, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure Tillie. I'm tired of this second rate knock-off of _Dr. Sexy_, anyway," he replied as he followed her up to her office.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

He was a soldier. He was used to fighting the enemy. He wasn't used to hearing prayers invoked directly to him. He had always been relatively unknown. Not like his Father, or his elder brothers. And he only answered them when they were part of his Father's will.

That had changed in the last couple of years. He had become more widely known due to a human form of entertainment that assigned his name and even some of his characteristics, to one of its personalities. Since then, more humans had directly prayed to him. He did not completely understand this phenomenon. But he still only answered prayers if his Father willed it.

Last night, he had heard one of the strangest prayers of all directed towards him. "Yo, dude, please! Can you help a brother out, here? I know I kind of screwed you over there the last time I saw you, but I'm really in a bind. I lost my Grace and I don't know who else to turn to."

Even more strange was that his eldest brother had directed him very specifically how to answer this prayer. He wasn't allowed to show himself to the supplicant. In general, he usually never was. But at the right moment, he was to direct the supplicant to a periodical which contained an article; an article about the very form of human entertainment that had caused the increase in prayers that he had been receiving.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued interest and feedback.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

"So," Tillie began cautiously as they walked up the stairs to her office. "You don't like _Grey's Anatomy_ very much, do you?"

"Like it? It's a cheap imitation of the original," Gabriel spat out.

"Original?" Tillie said skeptically. "Okay, I really don't have time to get into this conversation right now. But really, one day soon we need to talk about what is and isn't original. The real reason I brought you up here was so we could work on your applications for funding, since Aaron brought me your birth certificate and social security card, _Mr. Milton_."

Milton? Gabriel groaned inwardly. Whoever had stuck him here without his Grace was now thumbing their nose at him. Seriously? _Paradise Lost_? What kind of sick joke was this? Not that he could argue with anyone about it. So he decided to do some digging. "Aaron, huh? So, how well do you know your employees, Tillie?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him, as she handed him the forms he need to complete. "Why do you ask?"

"What? The employees here are responsible for helping us and we don't get to know the least little bit about them?" He scanned the forms. Geesh, these government types wanted to know every last detail about you. He just started making up some of the details as he went along. It wasn't like he could write down the truth. Like this one here, "Are all of the persons applying for MO HealthNet U.S. citizens?" Technically, no he wasn't a citizen, but he didn't think that would go over very well, especially since he now had a U.S. birth certificate and social security card courtesy of one Aaron Steeple.

"O-kay," she said slowly. "Well, he's a grad student working his way through school."

"And why does he want to work here?" Gabriel pressed, as he continued to fill out the application. Ah, another question to lie about. "Do you have any children?" Hmm, he didn't think telling them about Hel, Fen, Jorgi or Sleipnir would be easy to explain either. So that was decidedly a no.

"He needed job experience. He hadn't worked anywhere before I hired him," she reluctantly told Gabriel.

"You mean this is his first job?" Gabriel snorted. "Imagine that. Where did you find him, under a rock?"

"You know, for someone who needs a hand up themselves, you aren't very understanding when someone else does, too" Tillie huffed. "He grew up in a rough neighborhood. He was one of the lucky few who never got into a gang or got into any trouble."

"More like never got caught," Gabriel muttered.

"What was that?" Tillie asked.

"Nothing," he covered. "Just something on the form."

"He got a scholarship to college, but he never had work experience until I hired him. He has been here almost two years now. It's the only job he has ever known."

Well trying to help the only employer he had ever known might explain why he was so insistent on getting funding, but it didn't explain why he had to be a jerk about it. "So, Till, is this government funding the only way for me to stay here? I mean isn't there any other way to cover my expenses?"

Tillie looked at him, her eyes blinking in surprise. "Well, most people apply for the funding, but on rare occasion, some people choose to pay for it with private funds."

"Like if I got a job?" he asked.

"Well, a job would only cover your room and board," she answered. "It doesn't cover the other things, like the staff that help you out. That is a large part of what the funding goes towards."

"Well, I don't really need help from the staff now do I?" he tried to point out.

"Yeah, right," she mocked. "Because they don't cook every meal you request or do laundry or clean up after you. Why are you so opposed to getting funding anyway?"

Gabriel thought about this for a minute. If he told her the truth, that Aaron had gotten fake IDs because he didn't have a last name, then he would be back to square one. Trying to explain why he had no last name would lead Tillie down the "Gabriel must be crazy" line of thinking. He didn't trust that using those IDs wouldn't bring her a whole lot of trouble. But if he used them to get a job, then the worst thing that could happen was that he and maybe Aaron would get in trouble. And he didn't plan on being around forever, so it didn't matter if he got himself into trouble.

"I just don't want to have to rely on anyone else, including government funding," he finally answered. "So if I start pulling my own weight around here and get a job, would you consider just putting this application away for now?"

Tillie looked at him for a long time. "How would you get back and forth to work, providing you could even get a job?"

"Okay, so maybe I would need you to take me, but that is all I would ask you to do, Scout's Honor," he said, giving her a military salute.

Tillie just rolled her eyes, but she did stick the application in her desk drawer and Gabriel broke out in a huge grin.

"Don't get ahead of yourself yet," Tillie warned. "Do you even have an idea what kind of job you can get?"

"Well, I have worked as a janitor before."

"Oh, you're not going there are you?" Tillie begged, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel demanded with a sense of indignation.

Darn, it! There were just too many instances when she found herself comparing him to the Gabriel that was on television. She bit her lower lip. Why did he seem to bring out the worst in her? "Well, it's just that you've only been here a few days and you've barley shown any inclination to clean up after yourself let alone help out with household chores. So why would you take a job as a janitor?"

"I dunno. 'Cause I've been one before?" he said shuffling his feet. "So it's probably something I can handle."

"Fine," she gave in. "I guess we'll start there. But first we have to take these documents and get you a state ID."

She found him a job as a janitor at a local office building. He lasted a day. When he had to clean the restrooms, he balked when he saw how disgusting they were. It was bad enough having to sweep and mop up after people, let alone empty the trash receptacles in the building. The smell of the dumpster out back was enough to make even him lose his appetite. Well, for an hour anyway. He wasn't going to touch any of those toilets. Were people really that gross? He left his cleaning cart outside, told his boss he wasn't coming back and called Tillie asking her to come get him. She wasn't the least bit surprised.

His next venture into the work world was at a bakery. He thought it was the perfect place to work and he couldn't wait to get started. Tillie cautioned him against it.

"Just because you like to eat sweets doesn't mean you should work with sweets," she warned.

"Nonsense," he said. "I'll be perfect for the job."

As usual, Tillie was right. He was supposed to help decorate cakes and cookies. He spent most of the day sneaking cakes and cookies into his mouth. Tillie got a call from the owner of the bakery to come pick when she found him sitting on the back counter, feet dangling off the side, with a large mixing bowl of cookie dough and a spoon, just eating straight out of the dish. Tillie drove him back to the group home in silence, fuming the entire time. Despite Gabriel's efforts to apologize, he couldn't get a response out of her the whole way home.

Tillie insisted that she help pick out his jobs from then on. She helped him find a job as a security guard on the night shift at a warehouse. He had to sit at a desk and watch monitors through the night, and occasionally walk the building. It wasn't that complicated and she thought he could handle it. Although he hadn't been sleeping at night for very long, he had actually grown fond of it, so he was already complaining about giving up sleep. Tillie informed him he could just sleep during the day instead. He decided to give it a try, thinking that watching the monitors would be similar to watching television, but he hadn't realized those monitors would lack any actual entertainment. He kept nodding off all night long because he was so bored. There was no way he was coming back for more sleepless torture. He couldn't imagine a job more tedious than this. It was like watching paint dry.

He was wrong.

For his next job, he watched paint dry.

"You weren't supposed to actually sit there all day on you rear and do nothing! You were hired as a painter, which would imply that at some point in the day you actually pick up a paint brush in your hand and apply paint to the wall," Tillie yelled at him while he actually leaned against the passenger door in order to put some distance between them. Unlike their journey home from the bakery, Gabriel didn't think she had stopped yelling at him the entire way home. "And you never insult the home owner on their choice of paint color."

"But in my defense," Gabriel offered, "it really did look like the color of dog vomit. Who wants to eat in a dining room painted that color?"

"Apparently they did!" she shrieked. "You weren't hired for your decorating sense. And you definitely weren't hired to eat their supply of Oreos! Which, by the way, if you keep eating the way you have been you are going to gain some serious weight!"

"Are you calling me fat?" he groused, clearly insulted.

"Not yet," she sniggered. "But you have gained five pounds since you moved in. If you keep tossing back the cookies like you have been, it's going to catch up with you sooner rather than later."

Later that evening, Gabriel was looking for jobs on the computer. "Hey, Tillie!" he called out. "I think I found something!"

While drying dishes, she looked over his shoulder at the job description he was reading. She shook her head and laughed, "No, that's not for you. Why would you even bother?"

"I think I would look great in the uniform. But why shouldn't I try?" he pouted.

"For starters, you don't even have a driver's license. So I really don't think that PepsiCo is going to hire you as a truck driver. Keep looking, alright?"

His next job came with much more upfront paperwork, but that is what happens with a government job. What he wasn't expecting was plenty of admonishment from Tillie before he even started.

"I swear by all that is holy, Gabriel, if I get a phone call from someone saying that you've gone postal today, you will learn a new definition of smite from my own hands. Do you understand me?"

He just quietly nodded his head, and backed out of the car. Amazingly, the whole day passed without any phone calls. Still slightly nervous about it all, Tillie arrived at the post office shortly before closing to see exactly how he was doing. She was greeted in the lobby by the supervisor, Lizzie Jones. "Hello Ms. Chambers. Where have you been hiding this guy?" thumbing over her shoulder towards Gabriel. "He has been a wonderful addition to our branch here. He didn't like sorting mail very much, but he was absolutely wonderful working the counter. All of the customers loved him!"

"He didn't have any problems?" Tillie asked hesitantly.

"Well everyone has a learning curve at a new job. But he will catch on to the overall routine in no time. The only other issue was that this guy sure does like to talk, maybe just a little too much."

"Tell me about it," Tillie laughed nervously.

Just then, Gabriel came out, ready to leave for the day. "See you later, Mrs. Jones"

"See you tomorrow, Gabriel!"

"You did it Gabriel!" Tillie said, astounded. "You found a job!

"Well, gee, don't sound so surprised," he said. "I guess the fifth time's a charm, heh? I should've known from the start to stick with my skill set."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

She made the decision to stay and try to gather more information before reporting to her superiors. One of the angels immediately left and the other stayed behind in the city, so she decided to follow him. He was watching a home in a quiet neighborhood where several people came and went throughout the day. She couldn't imagine what interest it held for him, but she decided to watch from the shadows for at least the time being. She had almost given up and decided to leave and report what she knew to her superiors when one person caught her eye.

He was a young man who was filled with the type of human emotion she that she usually preyed upon. Once she saw him, she immediately hopped up and sat on his shoulder and began encouraging his doubts. She hated being so cliché, but it did help her more effectively accomplish her goals.

And boy, was this kid full of insecurities. He was worried about his employer loosing funding. He didn't trust one of the newer residents. He was concerned about some poor choices that he had made. So she just tightened the screws. She dug into his brain and encouraged him to snoop in the office of his boss. Jackpot! He found some paperwork he wasn't supposed to know about. Some type of application for funding that hadn't been turned in for the new resident. She could feel the anger burn within him. She egged it on, reminding him that if there wasn't funding it would be his job that would be in jeopardy. And so she managed to help Aaron Steeple to take matters in his own hands and turn an application for funding into the State of Missouri for a Gabriel Milton.

Satisfied that her work was done here for the time being, she decided to leave and share what she learned with her superiors about the visiting angels who were on an inter-dimensional mission.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued interest and feedback.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

Gabriel had the day off from the post office on Thursday since he had to work on Saturday. He took advantage of his day off by sleeping late. He was surprised at how quickly he not only had become adjusted to sleeping like a human, but actually enjoying it. Sleeping late today also had another benefit. Aaron had worked the night shift last night, so if he slept late enough he could avoid seeing that dick altogether. While he might miss any hot breakfast that was offered, he discovered that the pantry was also stocked with cereal including Lucky Charms, which would be almost as satisfying to his sweet tooth as pancakes.

By the time he rolled out of bed, grabbed a shower and headed downstairs to eat his Lucky Charms, Aaron was long gone, but Gabriel had forgotten that it was "music therapy" day. Staff member Jenny Howard had invited a friend of hers from college to come over every week to play guitar and help the residents play and sing music. Quite frankly, Gabriel thought the guy looked like a reject from _The Wiggles_ and he did whatever he could to avoid it. It helped greatly that he was paying his own way now and he had an excuse to avoid any official services that the home offered. Since the session usually took place in the dining room, he took his bowl of Lucky Charms and hightailed it in to the living room, just as the first song began.

"_Self-esteem is for everybody. Self-esteem is for everyone. You can dream and be anybody, but self-esteem is how you get it done!"_ The annoying rubbish was so loud, he wouldn't even be able to enjoy free reign of the television while Dave and his OCD sense of control were away singing songs that could have easily been written by Stuart Smalley himself. He would have to settle for finding some decent reading material. He looked around the living room, and saw that there was a book shelf that seemed to be fairly well stocked. The question was whether it had anything worth reading. He doubted that Tillie would keep any books that would hold his interest.

On the bottom shelves there seemed to be some classic literature books, like _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_, _Frankenstein_ and _The Three Musketeers_. There were also some paperback mystery novels, and of course, a copy of the Bible. He chuckled to himself. He wondered what Tillie would think if he ever got into a discussion with her about how some of those stories _really_ happened. He'd loved to share what really happened with Daniel in that lion's den. He looked out the window. Tillie was on the porch talking to a neighbor about some local government issue. He hadn't paid much attention to it. He went back to the bookshelf. Up near the top, there seemed to be some magazines. He thought he would try his luck there. Just as he began to reach up to pull them down, several of them fell down on top of him and landed on the floor. As he bent down to pick them up, the one on top caught his attention like an Angel Killing Sword to his gut.

"Oh, _Hells_ No!" he groaned, picking up the copy of the TV Guide.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

After knocking over the magazines and ensuring that one in particular landed on the top, Castiel joined his older brother outside on the front lawn, unseen by human eyes.

"I did what Michael instructed, brother," Castiel sighed. "But I'm not sure how it will help this man."

"You don't have to understand, Castiel. Just trust that our Father knows what he is doing and his plan will come together in time."

Castiel remained silent for a few moments. "Are we done here brother, or do we have further work to do?"

"You are done for now, Castiel. But you will need to return at a later time, a time when your skills as soldier and warrior will be needed. I must remain. For in a short while, I will be required to follow up on the task you just performed."

Castiel found that his curiosity was getting the best of him. He did not understand why it was that this man who had prayed to him had called him brother, nor why he had spoken of losing his Grace, let alone why a magazine would be of any use to him. Castiel had known of none of his brothers falling since the Morning Star had fallen and taken a third of the Host with him over a millennia ago. "Gab-…" he began to question his older brother, but was cut off.

"Castiel, I know you have many questions about this mission. But even Michael and I have been given limited knowledge by Father. The safety of many depends on it."

Castiel had one other thing to share with his older brother before departing. "Are you aware, then, that one of the staff members is being influenced by a demon?"

"Yes," the elder angel sighed. "Father is also aware of that and has worked that into his plan. You must have faith, Castiel."

With that, the younger angel departed, leaving his older brother waiting and watching until it was his time to intervene.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

'How in the hell did those chuckleheads end up on the cover of TV Guide?' Gabriel thought to himself. Just how long had he been gone? Had he been gone long enough for them to be able to score a reality show like those _Ghostfacers_ guys? Who in the world would watch that? Then he looked more closely at the captions. "First annual Fan Favorite winner is _Supernatural_" He was gone long enough for them to become "fan favorites"? Really?…"_ Supernatural's_ Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles". Padalecki and Ackles? Those weren't the type of aliases those mooks usually chose. Hell, they weren't even good stage names. How they hell did they even develop a fan base with names like that?

Dear Dad! He didn't come back to life. He wasn't in Purgatory. His brother had not only killed him. Luci had sent him to his own personal Hell. Unless….Oh, Dad, Oh Dad, Oh Dad…please let this be one of those fake magazines you get at county fairs and amusement parks. Please, Dad let me not be able to open the pages and…shit! There is a real article in here! Dad damn it! He barely skimmed the article, but clearly it wasn't some reality show. Look here. "Exclusive scoop on the battle for Sam's soul!" That kid got into more trouble than any human he ever met. Without him around to save their asses, he had to wonder how deep they were in it now. But more importantly, he was in deep, too. Those chuckleheads were a work of fiction on television. Which means Dad only knows where he really was. Now to find out why in the hell Tillie had never told him this.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie was standing on the front porch talking to the neighbor of the group home, Bob Larson, about some upcoming local referendum involving garbage pick-up. Bob was completely incensed that the city council wanted to charge an extra $2 per month per residence for pickup services. Tillie didn't really care as long she didn't have to haul the garbage off to the dump herself. She had too many other things to deal with on a daily basis. Speaking of which, Gabriel came tearing out of the house at full speed waving a magazine in her face.

"Why in the hell didn't you tell me about this?" he screamed.

"Calm down, please," Tillie demanded. "And tell you about what?"

"This!" Gabriel shoved the TV Guide in her face and Tillie's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh shit on a shingle!" she muttered.

"I knew it!" Gabriel exclaimed. "You've known all along, haven't you?"

"I'm sorry Bob," Tillie apologized, as Gabriel grabbed her by her upper left forearm and dragged her back into the group home. "Um, obviously, something has come up that I have to deal with."

"We are going to discuss this in your office," he hissed in her ear as they passed the group in the dining room, who were now singing "You Are My Sunshine". "And you are going to explain exactly what the hell you've been hiding from me and why!"

Tillie gulped. She had hoped he would go to a psychiatrist. Maybe take some medication. See a counselor. And _then_ confront his delusions. But this, discovering the show because of that damn TV Guide cover, she didn't expect that. She thought she had removed it from the house. Heck, she thought him catching the show on the television was a stronger possibility, but she had arranged the TV scheduled so he wouldn't have the remote when it was on and she had trusted Dave's OCD to help ensure that Gabriel wouldn't catch a glimpse of it. It was always a remote possibility that she would have to have this conversation, but she wasn't ready. Not today.

Gabriel shoved her into her office and slammed the door closed, locking it behind him. "So," he began, his breathing ragged, nostrils flared. "The life I knew, the world I came from, doesn't exist, except on television. This means I had to come from some other reality. Some other dimension. And you had to know about this all along!"

Tillie buried her head in her hands. He wasn't even facing his delusions. He was just making up a way to make it all plausible. He came from another reality. Really? How was she going to challenge that? "Gabriel, stop it. Just please stop it. You need to calm down so we can discuss this reasonably."

"Discuss this reasonably?" Gabriel yelled. "How would you feel if you found out your life was based on some Hollywood flunky's idea of fiction?"

"Well, it's not actually your life. It's really more about Sam and Dean. Gabriel is more of a minor character, considering he has only been in four episodes." Tillie clamped both hands over her mouth immediately after she said the words and now she couldn't take them back. What the hell was she thinking? She was actually validating his delusions by speaking to him as if he was _the_ Gabriel.

"Minor. Character?" he growled getting right up in her face and backing her up against the wall. "I'm a freaking Archangel. The Left Hand of God. His Messenger, who bears His Strength and Judgment. And I'm a minor character?"

"If it's any consolation, Gabriel's a fan favorite," she stammered. "Ever since they killed him off, the fans have been trying to getting the writer's to bring him back on the show. Because Chuck knows, very few things on that show stay dead."

"Wait…you're a fan, aren't you?" he accused, waving his finger in her face. "How else would you know that I've only been in four episodes? Or that fans are even trying to get me back? And just who the Hell is Chuck?"

"It's just an expression." Tillie bit her lip and looked at her feet. He had her so rattled she couldn't think straight. She was really screwing this up.

"No it's not. 'Go to hell?' is an expression. 'For Pete's sake' is an expression. 'Because Chuck knows' is not an expression that I have _ever_ heard of and I've been around a long time, lady."

Tillie steeled herself. She had to get control of herself and this conversation now. She met Gabriel's gaze. She was going to ignore the whole Chuck portion of the conversation for now, and deal with the heart of the issue.

"Look, you clearly believe you are the Archangel Gabriel, from another dimension," Tillie said carefully. "Apparently a dimension where everything from _Supernatural_ has really happened. I didn't tell you about it being a television show because I didn't think it would be healthy for you and quite frankly, I didn't want to have this very argument. Just because we disagree on your, um…origins, doesn't mean I like you any less, or that I am any less willing to help you."

"I. Am. Gabriel." The angel challenged. "And all of those things have happened. I will also have you know, I have been involved in those chuckleheads lives way more than what any four episodes could possibly contain. The stories I could tell that probably didn't make it over to this dimension would definitely knock your socks off."

"Gabriel, I understand you want me too believe you," Tillie sighed. "But you could tell me all of your stories and where would the proof be? How could I verify anything that you would say happened? We would still be at this impasse."

Gabriel fell silent for a moment. If Dad had anything to do with him being here, please let him find a way to convince Tillie, if no one else, that he wasn't some crazy person. That he was who he said he was. A thought occurred to him. It was a risk, but it was the only idea he had.

"Give me one shot, just one chance," Gabriel pleaded. "That's all I ask. Let's just watch the show one random time. If I can point out one thing that I said or did that isn't on the show, I'll take a gamble that maybe somewhere in this reality there is proof that it happened. If there isn't, I'll keep my mouth shut and not talk about it again."

"No," Tillie held firm, shaking her head. "I want more. If you're wrong, I want you to agree to go to the doctor and start seeing a counselor, too."

Damn, he was risking a lot. He really hoped his Dad came through on this for him. "Deal," Gabriel said offering his hand. Tillie took it, hoping she didn't regret it. But she didn't see how there could be proof that he was telling the truth.

"Why wait?" she asked. "There's an episode on right now."

**A/N 2: So I have to give credit to Ben Edlund for the self-esteem song, because it actually came from the _Angel_ episode, "Smile Time". It has been stuck in my head, ever since I read that Ben is not only going to write, but direct an episode of Supernatural this season. And the only other writing/directing he has ever done was Angel's "Smile Time". God, I loved that episode.**

**Also, it was very painful for me to end the chapter at this point. I so want to continue to where they actually watch the show together, but it would be so much longer. Hopefully that just means you'll get an update sooner rather than later. Plus, with the next update you'll get a bonus. And that all I am saying for now.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued interest and feedback.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

"We can't watch TV now," Gabriel hesitated, trying to put off the inevitable. "It's still _Sing-Along with Mitch_ time downstairs."

"Nice try bucko," Tillie said. "But one of the perks of having a television in my office is that I can actually use it to watch TV shows." Tillie picked up the remote, turned on the TV and switched the channel over to TNT. Oh, good, Tillie thought to herself. Season three. And it was "The Kids Are Alright", where Dean got to meet Ben for the first time. Gabriel wasn't even in this one. Even if he came up with something, what proof would he have in this "universe", right? Plus, there was only about fifteen-twenty minutes left in the episode so it wasn't much time for him to fabricate a lie.

Oh good, Gabriel thought to himself. That Ben Braden kid that Dean got involved with. He had to step in and intervene with the muttonheads before someone really got hurt. Surely there was an opportunity for him to prove to Tillie that he was telling the truth.

Tillie and Gabriel were both silently engrossed in watching Dean breaking the window of the basement and getting the kids out of the house when Sam came running. "Hey! Dean! There's a mother."

"A mother changeling?" Dean asked, shocked.

"We got to get these kids out quick." Sam yelled.

"Right there." Dean indicated. "There's one more. You got to break the lock!"

"I guess that's why the changelings are keeping the kids alive -so the mom can snack on them," Sam said.

The scene then shifted to Lisa's house, where changeling Ben had taken the real Ben's place. "This is when it gets good," Gabriel inserted.

"What's wrong, mommy?" !Not Ben asked.

"You're not my son." Lisa said.

"Yes, I am,"!Not Ben insisted.

They continued to watch as Lisa attempted to find out about her real son, and then ran out the front door, only to be confronted by several changeling kids in her front lawn, blocking her exit. She ran back inside to be confronted by !Not Ben. Gabriel couldn't wait to see which version this was, but it cut back to the muttonheads rescuing the real kids and killing the mother changeling. After the mother changeling had been burnt to a crisp with the flamethrower, the scene again changed to Dean and Sam taking the kid back home. This time, the kid hopped out of the car, ran to his mom and gave her a hug, while she asked him if he was okay.

"Okay," Gabriel spoke up with a triumphant smirk on his face. "It did not happen this way the first time."

"What?" Tillie asked, snapping out her trance that the show always seemed to put her in. "What are you talking about?"

"I said," Gabriel started over slowly, as if he were speaking to a child. "It did not happen this way the first time. Momma Braden did not live the first time. The changeling brat killed her before the dunderheads ganked the mother changeling. Dean of course, felt guilty. So he stepped in and tried to be a father figure and spend time with the kid. Worst possible time since he had that impending date with Hell and all. So I had to take charge and remind him of the damage he was doing to the kid, despite his good intentions. Road to hell is paved with them, ya' know. Took the opportunity to show Sammy the damage his relationship with his brother was doing to him, too. After he learned his lesson, I went back and set things right. So, surely there has to be proof of this somewhere, right?"

Tillie gaped at him. She couldn't move from her seat. If she did, she was sure her head would explode or she would have to hurl the contents of her stomach into the trash can. How…how the fuck did he know? No one had ever read that fic. It was on her laptop at home. She hadn't published yet it on any fan site even though she wrote it almost two months ago. She had never shared it with anyone. Hell, she had never sent it to her beta to have it proof read. No one could possibly know details like that. No one.

She reached for her purse and began immediately fishing for the bottles. She pulled both of them out and opened them, taking out one pill each and opened the water bottle on her desk.

"What are those?" Gabriel demanded. "What are you taking? Are you alright?"

"It's Imitrex and Comapzine," Tillie answered, knocking back the pills. "I can feel the blood vessels in my head exploding and I am about to lose my breakfast, so I am trying to stop all of that from happening, if you don't mind!"

Gabriel's eyes narrowed as he watched her. "It was something I said, wasn't it? There is some sort of proof here that I am who I say I am. I knew it! I couldn't have just randomly ended up here. There was a reason for it!" In his excitement, he picked her up and spun her around in the air, which was a huge mistake. Tillie immediately leaned over the trash and vomited.

When she was done, she looked up at him in frustration. "I…I can't do this right now. I can't explain what you just did. I don't even know what you just did. I need you to leave my office. I…need to leave. I need to get out of here for awhile."

With that, Tillie gathered her things and left a dumbstruck Gabriel in her wake.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie got her in car and drove. She just drove around the city. She needed time to think. She still wasn't sure what happened back there. Her brain wasn't processing how Gabriel could possibly know what she had written in her fic. Could he have actually experienced those things as she had written them? Could he really be _the_ Gabriel? The one from the _Supernatural_ universe? How was that even possible? Did she write them because she saw them as they happened? Or did they happen because she wrote them? How could he end up here? In her world? At her group home? She had always believed in God, but had He orchestrated something this unlikely? And why use her?

She had been so distracted she hadn't been paying attention to traffic. So she didn't see it. It was just a golden blur. She had to swerve to avoid hitting it. She didn't even know what brought her out of her reverie to do that much. But she pulled over, turned her car off and jumped out to make sure it was okay. The golden retriever was sitting in the grass of the park, panting. He seemed okay. But she was already so shaken that she decided to just sit here next to the dog for awhile to see if it would help calm her down.

"Sorry there, fella," she soothed as she petted his golden fur. "It seems you and I have both had a rough day."

"Yours has been much worse than mine," he answered, as the dog's form changed to that of a man.

Tillie shrieked in surprised as she tried to scramble backwards on her hands and feet. But the man was too quick and grabbed her by the wrist. Tillie looked up at him in the face. "You? How did you get here? I just left you back at the group home!"

"I'm not him," the man claimed. "I'm not _that_ Gabriel. I just chose this form because I thought it would be less confusing to you."

"Well, news flash," she retorted. "It's not working. If you hadn't noticed, you changed from a dog to someone who looks like Gabriel. So you left confusing in the rearview mirror awhile ago and are passing mindfuck right about now. So why don't you tell me just who in the hell are you?"

He plastered on that damn trademark smirk of Gabriel's "Actually, that's the wrong place of residence. I'm from Heaven. The name's Gabriel. And I'm the Gabriel from _this_ dimension."

Oh, God, oh God, oh God! Beyond any doubt she was in major mindfuck territory right now. "Oh crap," she groaned. "Now I know for sure my head is really going to explode." He immediately dropped his smirk and his look darkened for a moment. She pushed that to the back of her mind for now and continued. "So do you use the same vessels in all of the different realities?" she asked, trying to wrap her brain around how all this worked.

"This?" he said. "This isn't a vessel. The rules are much different here. We don't need vessels. When we need to interact with humans, we can appear as anyone, or anything we need to."

"I should have guessed, given the dog," Tillie scoffed. "I doubt many of them can say 'yes' to being a vessel anyway. Must be much more convenient. So why the dog?"

"The way you were driving back there, you were bound to hit something. So I needed to create a distraction to get you to pull over," he explained. "But I think if I would have appeared as Optimus Prime or even Bumblebee I would have created much more of a panic for the rest of the people around here than just showing myself as a dog, don't ya' think?"

Well, he wasn't a carbon copy, but he definitely was similar to the Gabriel she had watched on television, to one she had read about in fanfics, heck, to the one she had been helping, similar enough to pass muster. And she didn't have it in her to argue right now. "So it's him," she whispered. "He wasn't delusional, or lying or anything else. He was always just being him. So why are you here? I can't imagine that you make routine visits to earth to have chats like these."

"Well, you're right," he confirmed. "I usually only have chats like these for important things. The last time was for a certain birth announcement a couple of thousand years ago."

"So, confirming my suspicions about…about the other Gabriel warranted a personal visit from you?" Tillie asked incredulously.

"No," he sighed, and he grew still. No, that was wrong, Tillie thought. The whole world around them grew still. The breeze that had been in air died. The sounds of the birds singing and dogs barking stopped. She no longer heard the symphony of laughter and children playing in the background. But her mind was filled. Filled with things yet to come. He laid open as much of the future to her as His Father had allowed him to show her. It seemed like several minutes, but in reality it only lasted seconds.

"That...that was much more than a birth announcement," she uttered, suddenly on the brink of exhaustion with the weight of it all. "It certainly doesn't seem like an easy road ahead."

"Do you think my 'birth announcement' to Mary was an easy road? Hello, you're going to be an unwed mother, give birth in a stable, have to be on the run from a maniacal king in a foreign country for a couple of years before coming home. And that was before the kid grew up and started a religion."

"Well, seeing how difficult things will be, I guess my AFLAC wasn't such a bad idea after all," she laughed trying to lighten her own mood with humor.

"You'll need more than AFLAC," he said somberly. "But there will be additional support around, for both of you."

"I need to go back," she decided. "I need to tell the other…my Gabriel. Let him know he can..."

"Absolutely not," he cut her off. "He can't know any of this yet. It's not time."

"But he needs to know that I believe him," she pleaded. "That I don't think he is crazy."

"Then show him your writing," Gabriel instructed her. "He has prophets in his world, just like we do here. It might seem far fetched, but not entirely strange to him that someone from another dimension was able to write something down that happened in his world. Besides, he already ended up here and believes there is a reason for it. But he can be very impatient when it comes to his own interests. So telling him about me, or anything else I've shown you will only do more harm than good."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Sarah Mercer had been working at the Department of Mental Health for over fifteen years. For most of that time, she simply processed applications for funding. Today was no different. She had about nineteen new applications on her desk. Right now, she was working on one for Gabriel Milton, who was currently living in a group home in St. Louis, MO and appeared to be suffering from delusional disorder. Everything appeared to be in order. She approved temporary funding. But with the Patriot Act in place, she simply needed to start the process to verify his identification before permanent funding could be granted.

**A/N 2: I promised a bonus with this chapter, so here it is: The unpublished fic that Tillie mentions, and Gabriel "summarizes" as part of his experience with the Winchesters, is an actual fic that I did write a couple months ago and haven't published. It is based on a lyric prompt given to me by princess_aleera over on livejournal, and it is titled Help Me Forget. It is now, no longer unpublished. It is posted here on . You don't have to read the fic to understand this chapter, but if you want a bonus, it is there.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I know, this chapter took me longer to update than I usually do. Real life has been crazy. I have had a migraine for almost three days. So please really forgive any typos in this. I have read it over several times, but my eyes are even less reliable right now. I also owe an extra thanks to Maat for the direction that part of this chapter took.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

Gabriel watched Tillie run out of the office and down the attic stairs. Something was bothering her. He was convinced that she now believed him and the two things were connected. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until she decided to come back. He looked around and realized he was alone in Tillie's office. While he had been up a here a few times before, he had always been here with Tillie, and they were always talking about things or filling out forms or job applications. He had never really looked around the office. She had asked him to leave the office before she ran out, but would it really hurt if he just a looked around at the things that were out in the open?

The office was neatly, if sparsely decorated with the basics, including a desk, filing cabinets and bookshelves. But she also had added a small table and chairs, a couch and television for comfort. She had a few personal items around the room. He picked up a picture off the desk of people that by the resemblance must be a sister and her parents. As he gazed around looking at other simple artwork on the wall, two small framed items in the far back corner of the office caught his attention. He moved around to get a closer look. When he saw them, he realized they were diplomas, but the name on them surprised him even more. He chuckled a little. He was going to have to ask her about that, even if it gave away the fact that he had been snooping. He didn't blame her for going by Tillie, but he now wondered where that nickname came from.

A thought occurred to him while he was looking around. He hoped that Tillie hadn't turned in that application for funding, because he was sure that it would put her at risk as much as anyone. While he wanted to believe she wouldn't turn it in, he realized she most likely hadn't believed he was telling the truth before today. He hesitated a moment before walking to the drawer she had put the application in and opened it. The drawer was empty except for a few pens and paper clips and a blank job application. Damn it! Something else he would have to confront her about when she got back that would make it clear that he had been poking around up here. And this one would be much less pleasant.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

After leaving the park, Tillie stopped by her home and grabbed her own laptop and printouts of any of her writing she had. As she got back into her car she glanced at the clock. It was 12:30 p.m. The day was barley half over and she had already felt like she had lived two lifetimes. Despite being nauseous, her stomach was also protesting the fact that what little she had eaten that day she had already lost. She ran through a drive-through for a quick sandwich on her back to the group home, hoping not to make the situation worse, but she couldn't imagine how this day could get more atrocious. At best, she had learned she had to deal with two Gabriels, both of whom were Archangels, just that they were from different dimensions. And that was on top of her day job of running a group home.

When she pulled up to the group home, she saw that Gabriel was sitting on the front porch waiting for her. It wouldn't surprise her if he had been there since she left. So now came her turn to try to explain things she couldn't. She was sorry she ever thought he was delusional. Boy, this was going to be fun.

As she walked up the stairs, Gabriel stood to greet her. "Tillie, how are doing? Are you feeling any better?"

"It's been a long day," she answered. "If I had the choice, I would just crawl back into bed and wake up tomorrow. But I don't think I get to do that. So let's sit back down, and I will try to answer the questions I know you have."

"You believe me." Gabriel said as he sat down on the porch swing.

"That's a statement, not a question." Tillie observed, sitting down next to him.

"Okay, so why?" he pressed. "What changed your mind? Something I said upstairs got a reaction out of you."

Tillie opened her laptop, turned it on and opened up the file she needed before handing it over to Gabriel. "This," she simply said. "This is what changed my mind."

Gabriel read over the file for a few minutes, and then looked up at Tillie. "This is what happened with Dean and that Braden kid. I told you that already."

"I know," Tillie said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But these things never happened on the show in this dimension. I wrote that. And it's never been read by anyone else, never been seen, never been published. Except by you, right now. You could not have known those things happened. Unless they happened to you."

"You wrote these things, but they didn't happen here?" Gabriel repeated. "So, does that mean you're a prophet of some sort?"

"I…I don't know," Tillie hesitated, refusing to look him in the eye. "What good would it do if I were? It's not like I've had a way to communicate anything to your world. You're the first person I've met from there. "

"Hmm, you have a point," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe it was a one shot deal from my Dad, as a way to prove that I wasn't lying to you."

"Sure," she laughed nervously.

"It would also explain why your name isn't seared in my brain, Ethel Mae," he said, winking at her.

"Yeah, uh, huh…wait…what...you…you were snooping in my office?" Tillie's voice rising in shock and anger.

"Puh-lease. The diploma was hanging right there on the wall, even if it was in the back corner of the room. Besides, I just looked around after you dashed out of there this morning. I really don't think that is the most important question at the moment," Gabriel said, trying to deflect her anger. "What I want to know is how someone gets a nickname like Tillie from the name Ethel."

"Really? That is what you are worried about right now?" she asked doubtfully.

"No, but I still want to know," he chuckled. "And I'm going to keep bugging you until you tell me."

"Of course you will. No wonder people find you annoying," she sighed. "Fine. When I was born, my older sister Maggie, who was two at the time, couldn't pronounce Ethel. She kept saying Et-til, and shortened it to Til. Eventually, that became Tillie and even my parents used. I certainly was grateful for it by the time I was old enough to know better."

"Why did your parents even choose Ethel? Did they hate you before you were born or something?" Gabriel asked.

"Gee, thanks," Tillie responded. "No, they didn't hate me. It was my grandmother's name."

"So Tillie, now that we have the nickname mystery out the way, I want to ask you something else," Gabriel started in. But before he could continue, a car pulled into the drive. "Who is that?" he asked.

"Trouble," was Tillie's answer. "And I just had to assume that this day couldn't begin to get more dreadful."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"A dog?" Michael snickered as he clapped Gabriel on the back. "You appeared to her as a dog? Oh, I wish I could have seen that little brother."

"You might yet get your chance," Gabriel groused back. "I chose that form so when I go back to the house, she'll recognize me without me having to reveal myself to _him_."

"Uh huh, and what will you do to keep _him_ from sticking you with a name like Fido, Benji, or maybe Sasquatch after his favorite Winchester?"

"I've already thought of that," Gabriel shot back with a smirk, and held up an item in his hand. "I'll show up with this, complete with a name. Then he can't name me."

"A collar? You are gong to allow yourself to be collared?" Michael roared with laughter. "And what's this? Oh, Dad, you two aren't that different after all. This name means God's gift! The lengths you are going to go back in this form. Just how attached are you to being a dog?"

"At least I can go back in the form I chose. You can't go back as that temp without stirring up trouble. What are you going to do?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something. I imagine they will need a delivery man or a repair man at some point. Maybe then, I'll get to pet their new dog," Michael said, now laughing so hard he was holding his sides.

"Careful or you just might get bitten," Gabriel scowled.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Department of Mental Health caseworker Russell Cook made his way up the stairs of the front porch while Tillie groaned inwardly. Technically, the guy didn't have to schedule a visit, but he usually did offer the courtesy of letting her know ahead of time when he was coming. She wondering what besides the totally and utterly complete crappiness of her day would bring him here now.

"Hello, Tillie," he greeted her.

"Hey Russ," she said. "What brings you here today?"

"Oh, just a routine record check. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Yeah, sure, she thought to herself. Nothing was out of the ordinary with this guy. He only understood the letter of the law, not the spirit of it. If one "i" was not dotted or "t" not crossed on the documentation then he would file a complaint. He could care less if the residents were healthy, happy or living better lives than before they moved here. It was a good thing she excelled in both areas. "Okay, well, let's go pull the files." She stood up to go into the house, leaving Gabriel on the porch.

"And of course," Russ added. "I will need to review the new resident's file. A Mr. Gabriel Milton."

Tillie stopped and turned around. "Well, not to be a thorn in your side, but he doesn't get any Department of Mental Health funding, so you don't have the right to see his file. Not unless he gives you permission."

"Sorry, Tillie, but I have your temporary funding approval letter here on the application you sent in awhile ago. So that gives me the only permission I need."

Tillie gaped at him. She didn't turn in any application for Gabriel, which meant that Gabriel wasn't the only one that had been in her office. On top of that, since she wasn't expecting funding for Gabriel, she hadn't kept the strict records on him that she had for everyone else. She had some records, but the requirements for private pay residents were not as stringent.

"Fine," she said. She might as well get it over with. She couldn't change the outcome at this point. In the end, it was what she expected it to be.

"I'm surprised at you Tillie," Russ said as he was leaving. "Are you losing your touch? Mr. Milton's records are nowhere near your usual standards. I'll file the usual grievance in my records and give you until my next visit to get the records up to par."

Gabriel snuck up behind Tillie after Cook left. "I thought you didn't turn in that application?"

"I didn't," she hissed. "Now I have to figure out who else besides you has been in my office."

"I have a few ideas," he offered. "And is there anyway we can get out of the funding once you have it?"

"Yes," she said. "You will have to see a psychiatrist and act like a normal person so he will say you don't need the services here. Do you think you can possibly manage to act normal for a forty-five minute appointment?"

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

She tried. She really tried. But no one was interested in what she had to say. Not her direct superior, nor his. They were too concerned with their own projects, schemes and deals. Everyone was too busy trying to move up in Hell that no one really listened to her when she had said that she overheard angels working on an inter-dimensional mission. That she had heard them being concerned about the enemy, _them_. She wasn't sure that anyone knew what an inter-dimensional mission was. She didn't think her superiors cared that the enemy was concerned about arousing their suspicions. So she had decided to take matters into her own hands. She was going to take the biggest risk in her entire existence. It would either pay off, or it would end her.

She had heard _He_ would be in her area soon, so she waited. She was nervous. She had never met him, their Father. But if anyone would care about this, He would. She heard the uproar before she saw Him, or even the entourage. She was patient, and then made her move. She weaved in and out of the throng of demons. Her size allowed her the ease she needed to reach Him. But before she could open her mouth to speak, she was knocked across the room, nails scraping her face in the process. She was about to give up and scamper away, when she looked up and noticed the entire company of demons surrounding her Father had come to a stand still as He made her way over to her.

"My dear child," He said, looking her over carefully. "I don't think I can recall your name."

"Ru-Ruby," she stammered.

"Ruby, dear. What is so important that you would interrupt me and risk displeasing me so?"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Even though I know where we are going with this story, apparently real life has me on a once every three days updating scheduling right now. So just hang tight if you can. Thanks! Also, I appreciate all of you who have added this story to your alerts! I would love to hear your thoughts if you care to share. Feel free to review, even if it is anonymously. Or you can send me a PM. I promise I don't bite!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

"Of course I can act normal," Gabriel scoffed. "I act normal everyday."

Tillie rolled her eyes at him. "What I meant was, can you not talk about being an angel or being from another dimension, or the fact that your life is depicted on a television show when you go see Dr. Habib? Because he will ask you about all of the things you said at the hospital, and plenty of others. You will need to convince him that you aren't delusional and don't need our services."

"Oh, well, yeah, I guess," Gabriel said, suddenly realizing he would have to be serious when he went to the doctor. "Won't having a job help him convince that I don't need help?"

"That's only part of it," Tillie answered, as she walked outside to take the trash out. "You will need to convince him that you are capable of living on your own in the community, away from the group home."

"You mean I have to move out?" he demanded as he followed her.

"Yes, that is the point, Gabriel," Tillie said, exasperated, as she headed toward the front porch. "Somehow, someone turned in your funding application. The only way out of it, if that's what you want, is to have the doctor to determine that you don't need the services and for you to move out on your own. That is still what you want, right? Not to have the funding?"

"Yep," Gabriel said. "Obviously, it has already been more trouble than it's been worth. So, then Tillie, do you have an extra room at your place I can use once I manage to get kicked out of here?"

"What? No!" Tillie exclaimed. "Besides the fact that in general, it would be unethical to have a former group home resident live with me, I'm already being watched closely for how I've handled your records. I'm not inviting more trouble by letting you stay with me. I'll help you find a cheap, furnished efficiency apartment you can move into."

While they were talking, a familiar looking golden retriever came bounding into the yard. Tillie called and motioned the dog over. The only difference she noticed between this dog and the Gabriel she met in the park was that this dog had a collar with the name "Theo" in it. She was certain this was Gabriel from this dimension, checking in to make sure they were both okay. As odd as it seemed to her, she still couldn't resist scratching behind his ears as he settled in to sit next to her on the porch.

"So what, Tillie, you're taking in strays now?' Gabriel asked with his usual snarky tone.

"I'm letting you stay here, aren't I?" Tillie answered, not willing to let him get to her. At her response, Theo gave a hearty couple of barks and Tillie laughed. "Besides he's not a stray. He has a collar, with a name, Theo. So he must have a family who cares about him. I'm going to let him stick around. We'll put up signs. I'm sure we'll help him find his family and he'll get back to them in no time. You never know where they could be. They might be right under our nose."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Lucifer sat and wondered. Wondered when he had allowed things to get so far off the original plan. The little demon Ruby had triggered all these thoughts. The demons he was usually surrounded by now were so often concerned about possession and bartering for souls. While they certainly filled the bowels of Hell with humans that he had stolen away from his Father, it was so far off from where he had started. Ruby's methods were the ones he had started with so long ago back in the Garden.

The subtle lies. Preying on the insecurities of humans, manipulating them into making poor choices. Watching them as they allowed hatred and bitterness build in their heart. As they allowed this hostility to fester to the point to where they spewed obscenities at their fellow man, killed one another and called it his Father's will. Oh, how he loved it when they turned away from his Father and then ended up with Him. The shock they felt as they realized they had been betrayed, betrayed by themselves. This was the very air he breathed. This was his true Apocalypse. The slow and utter destruction of the human soul at its own hand. This was how he had planned to truly destroy his Father's so-called finest creation. Yet here he was, allowing himself to get caught up in the stock market of souls.

Ruby had changed all of that. She had not only reminded him of his original ways, she had brought him information. The intelligence she had brought was very valuable, more so than she even realized. He alone here was able to remember a time when he had been back home, back among his brothers. Back when his Father had mentioned other worlds. He had never been to one. He had never met anyone from another dimension. But if Ruby was correct and his brothers were interacting with another dimension, then perhaps there was a way that he, too could cross dimensions. Perhaps he too could destroy yet another of his Father's creations.

After questioning Ruby, he knew that the human she had influence over had already turned in a funding application using false identification. This was excellent news. He had many operatives in the government. He had put the word out among his minions that they should be on the alert for backgrounds checks on this application, and should it come up, it would be his operatives that would handle it, ensuring that he himself could move in and find out more about the situation. And Ruby, she had earned herself a place on the front lines. He sent her back to watch over the human that had helped start this all so she could continue to influence his choices.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Aaron had felt strange for the last few days. Deep down, he knew that going into Tillie's office, finding that funding application and turning it in without Tillie's knowledge or consent had been wrong. Utterly and completely wrong. At the time, he was entirely at peace about it. Now he was worried. Would she find out that he was the one who did it? Would she fire him? Would that imbecile Gabriel tell her that he had used fake identification? He hadn't slept the last few days as all of these worries chased him. He hadn't eaten, but he had drowned his sorrows in copious amounts of alcohol.

Now he was due to go back into work. He was sure he was sober. He was too relaxed to be anything but sober, right? And besides, he had his confidence back. He didn't do anything wrong. He had been helping Gabriel. He had been helping Tillie. He was the only one who cared. Everyone else was so damned concerned about the rules, they didn't understand that rules sometimes needed to be bent so that people you were trying to help to didn't get broken.

Of course, Aaron Steeple didn't comprehend that besides the alcohol helping give him a false sense of bravado, the main reason he had his confidence back was the fact that his friendly little demon, Ruby had returned and was once again sitting on his shoulder whispering lies into his ear.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Lizzie Jones had worked for the United States Postal Service for over twenty years and for the last ten, she had managed the local post office in her neighborhood. While it kept her busy, it was a nice change of pace from being a mail carrier. She enjoyed managing her staff and getting the opportunity to see the customers as they came into the building to pick up mail or to send and receive packages.

Her newest hire, Gabriel Milton, seemed to be a natural, but he was handful to work with. He was quite the jokester and even though all of his co-workers and the customers enjoyed having him around, Lizzie had to keep a firm hand on him so that he would get his work done and not get out of line. He also had a unique sense of justice. The other day, there had been a rather large, mouthy customer who was being rude to one of her other staff and taking up more than his fair share of time. While her staff tried to appease him, Gabriel managed to find the guy's mail, stuff it the taller man's mouth, then drag him out by his belt and toss him to the curb. She was a little worried that Gabriel, who was shorter than the customer by at least a half of foot, would come back in with a black eye. But all of the other customers who had to wait while the rude man put on his display actually cheered Gabriel on.

It was this sort of behavior that both encouraged her and worried her. She feared that it would somehow catch up with both of them. It had already delayed her in processing his new hire paperwork. Since it was Gabriel's day off, she could finally sit down and work on it. First thing this morning she had processed his background checks and now she was working on his health insurance forms. That is when she noticed an email pop up in her Inbox that was flagged important. What she saw when opened it disturbed her even more than her original concerns about Gabriel's antics. His social security number didn't belong to him. And since he was an employee of the US Postal Service, the FBI had decided to get involved.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie set out a bowl of water for "Theo" on the porch before she went back inside to work. Most of the residents were excited to have a dog around. Not surprisingly, however, Gabriel was less than thrilled.

"Why are you encouraging that mangy mutt to stay around anyway?" he whined. "You're only inviting an infestation of fleas."

"Are you jealous that Theo will need more help from me than you do?" Tillie wondered. "Or worried that I'm going to make you take care of him?"

"I am not cleaning up after…after that…furry lump," Gabriel huffed.

"Wait a minute," Tillie objected. "You had a dog, back when your were a janitor at that college. You know how to take care of one. You definitely are going to have to look after Theo now."

"You mean Cocoa?" Gabriel asked, "Cocoa was a magical dog. He practically took care of himself. I wouldn't know what to do with a real dog!"

"Of course you would name your dog after something chocolate!" Tillie laughed at him while she dragged him outside to take care of Theo. "I'm sure you have had enough experience with Cocoa to be able to handle Theo. Just treat Theo the way you would want to be treated if you were a dog, and I bet the two of you will get along fine."

Gabriel stared at her for a moment and was about to open his mouth with a retort when Aaron Steeple pulled up in his car and got out to come to work. Gabriel began to swear under his breath at the site of the young man at the same time Theo began to growl. Gabriel stopped and looked at the dog before commenting, "At least Theo has the sense to agree with me on something."

Tillie just shook her head, turned and walked away, muttering, "Honestly those two make me question why I ever went through a Sirius Black phase."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Sarah Mercer continued to be swamped processing applications for funding at the Department of Mental Health. This is why she didn't regularly check her email. She still wasn't used to relying on the internet as much as her younger co-worker. Two whole days went by before she opened the program and saw she had over two hundred messages waiting for her in her Inbox. After sorting through the junk mail, the drivel and inter-office memos, something important caught her eye.

The background checks on applicants really didn't take long these days, with most social security cards being able to be verified electronically. Most checks came back within a day with no issues noted. But she saw an email flagged and she opened it. One she had processed three days ago with temporary approval came back with an issue. Apparently, the social security number that Gabriel Milton had provided belonged to a William Lewis, who had died two years ago in a plane crash.

Normally, she would place a hold on the funding, and forward the errant information to both his case worker within the Department of Mental Health and the local Social Security office so that the situation could be straightened out, or an investigation be conducted if necessary. But the email indicated that she needed to forward information from Mr. Milton's file to a local FBI office, to the attention of Agent Megan Masters.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you so much for the continued feedback and reviews!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

Aaron stumbled up the porch stairs reeking of liquor. "Hmph," he said as he shuffled past Gabriel and eyeing Theo "She hasn't kicked you out yet, huh? And she took in 'nother vagabond on top it all. Great! Jus what I need, sumtin' else to take care of!"

Both Gabriel's and Theo's growls intensified. Gabriel grabbed Aaron by the arm, stopping him from going in the house. "You came to work drunk? What is your problem?"

"Hey lemme go!" Aaron exclaimed as he shrugged off Gabriel and went on into the home with Gabriel and Theo two steps behind him. Hearing the commotion, Tillie came into the hallway to see what was going on.

"Aaron? Is everything alright?" Tillie asked, eyeing the group as they walked into the living room.

"The mutt's causing a ruckus," Aaron said with a smirk as he stumbled into the wall. "An' the new dog ain't exactly being friendly either."

"Is...is that alcohol I smell?" Tillie asked, suddenly concerned about the behavior of someone who had seemingly been a stable employee.

"N'aw…it's just…cough syrup…yeah…"Aaron replied, as he attempted to lean on the wall for support, but his hand missed the wall and he stumbled, trying to catch himself.

Tillie's eyes narrowed. "My office. NOW!" the anger in her voice evident as she turned on her heel and headed upstairs, as Aaron weaved behind her, with Gabriel and Theo behind him.

Once upstairs, Tillie realized she had more of an audience than she intended. "Gabriel! I didn't ask you to come up here."

"I'm not letting you talk to this asshole alone, Tillie," Gabriel insisted. "I don't think you understand what he is capable of." Theo barked in agreement while Tillie just looked back and forth between the two of them. Gabriel she would normally brush off, even if she did believe him. But Theo? What did he know that she didn't?

"Look Gabriel, this is a supervisory matter," she began. "As a resident, you really shouldn't be here."

Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but Aaron interjected first. "No…I want him here, Till. There are things you…you don't even know about this guy. Ya'know he doesn't even have a real last name, right? Not one that he would give up. _I_ _had to_ make one up for him. _I_ _had to_ get him a fake birth certificate. _I had to_ scam a social security card for him. Cause he wasn't going to cooperate and help."

Tillie gaped at Aaron. It wasn't until this morning that she had truly believed that Gabriel was who he said he was. She hadn't even thought about his last name, or his identification until Aaron brought it up.

"You...you got him fake identification?" she stammered. "Do you know how much trouble that will cause now that his funding application has gone through?"

"Me? Cause trouble? Nuh-huh...it was him," Aaron accused, pointing a shaky finger at Gabriel. "He wouldn't tell the truth. He wouldn't give up a last name. He said he had never been born. Can you even imagine? Who says crap like that? So I had to make all that shit up. I had to create the ID; otherwise, he wouldn't have funding. And without funding, this place goes down the tubes and I lose my job."

"By making up false IDs for residents, you will lose your job anyway. I want you out of here, now!" Tillie demanded.

"You're...you're firing me?" Aaron asked incredulously. "You can't fire me! I am the only one who gives a damn about this place! I turned in that funding application when you were letting it sit idle in your desk drawer; even after all that work I did so it would be completed."

"I knew it was you!" Gabriel exclaimed. "I knew you had to be the one who..."

"Gabriel, stop it!" Tillie interrupted. "Aaron, I've heard enough. You created faked identification for a resident. You came into my office without my permission and turned in a funding application without my authorization. And you came to work intoxicated. So, yes, you're fired. Please go downstairs. I'll call you a cab. I'm not letting you drive anywhere in your condition."

"I swear you'll regret this, Tillie," Aaron yelled, as he turned and stormed out of the office. Theo followed him out. Gabriel was about to as well, but Tillie called him back.

"Wait a minute," she said, her voice shaking after her confrontation with Aaron. "You knew about this, too, didn't you? That's why you didn't want to use the funding?"

Gabriel ran his hand over the back of his head, looking at the ground. "Um, yeah. I really didn't want to have the whole 'That's not really my last name and I don't have any valid ID' conversation with you, Till. At the time, I didn't think you would take it very well. But I figured that if you didn't turn in the funding application, you wouldn't get into trouble."

"But Gabriel," Tillie said. "You used those IDs to get a job. You can still get in trouble."

"Yeah, but that's just me. Not you," he grinned sheepishly." And I never planned on being here long enough to get into that much trouble."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie stood out on the porch and watched over Aaron until the cab came to pick him up to take him home. Of course, she wasn't alone. She had quickly realized she now had two guard dogs watching over her. Neither Gabriel nor Theo left her side until Aaron was gone. Once he had left, she checked on the other residents, who knew something was going on, but hadn't seen or heard everything. She helped calm their nerves, and made a few phone calls to try and cover Aaron's shift. One of her part-time staff agreed to come in and work tonight, which helped calm Tillie's nerves.

While she had her own reasons for Aaron's behavior to disturb her, Theo's response to him had also left her unsettled. She understood why Gabriel had been upset. He knew that Aaron had been lying to her and he had suspected that Aaron was the one that had snuck into her office. But Tillie wanted to know why Theo was disturbed by Aaron's presence. She had her own suspicions and she wanted to talk to him, and not in his dog form. But that would require getting him out away from Gabriel, if she could manage that.

Tillie walked over to Theo and scratched him behind the ears which seemed to be a favorite spot. That and his belly. "I need to get out of her for awhile. I'm thinking of taking a walk, but something tells me that you're not going to let me go alone." He cocked his head as he looked up at her. "Well, there is a leash law in this city, but I don't have one. Are you going to help me out here or…" Before she could finish her sentence, the leash appeared in her hand, already attached to his collar.

Gabriel walked up behind her. "What is it with you and this dog? You have an unhealthy attachment to him or something."

Tillie raised her eyebrow. "Like what you and I have would be considered a normal social worker and client relationship? Besides, I'm just going to take him for a walk. I suppose that means you're going to tag along, too?" Tillie resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't talk to Theo alone right now, not with her other 'guard dog' present. But she was still determined to find away to ditch Gabriel and talk to her other angel.

"Sure why not, seems like a nice enough evening for one," he said, shoving his hand in his pockets. "So where did you come up with a leash?"

"You'd be surprised at the things I have in the storage room. I still have a couple of old VCRs and a stereo with a turntable. I even have a hand push mower out in the storage shed."

"Let me know if you find Thor's Hammer. He's been looking for that thing for centuries," Gabriel joked.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Tillie asked, "Don't you ever get homesick? You've talked about getting your powers back. But just now, back in my office, was the first time I heard you mention not staying here long."

Gabriel sighed. "Part of that is because today was the first time I truly realized I wasn't in my own dimension. Well, if you don't count the bright lights."

"Bright lights?" Tillie asked.

"Ever since I came here," Gabriel explained, "the light here has been brighter, everywhere, all the time. It even gives me a headache sometimes. It was the first clue I had that I wasn't in my own world. It just never clicked until today."

"But that's not that's not the only thing I'm talking about," Tillie said. "You've been a run away from your true home for a long time. Even with all of the fighting, don't you miss them, your family?"

A pained expression crossed his face as he considered how to answer her. "Of course I do. That's why I had such a hard time facing…Hey, where are we?" Gabriel looked up and realized he hadn't been paying much attention to where they had been walking. They had somehow made their way to a smaller, older church in the neighborhood. One of the few that still had a cemetery on the property. And Tillie was leading them into the graveyard.

"Tillie, why are we here?" Gabriel asked, suddenly realizing how little he knew about her.

"Because sometimes, I get homesick," she replied, as they walked up to a tombstone that read CHAMBERS.

"The family in the picture on your desk, that is your sister and your parents, right?" he said. He knew now it wasn't a coincidence that they ended up here. "Which one of them is here?"

"All of them," she said somberly. "No, none of them. This is just a reminder that they lived here once. They are in Heaven, right? Tell me they are Heaven." Theo nudged her and barked.

"I hate to keep agreeing with the dog, but yes, I think he is right," Gabriel answered. "What happened?"

"Would you believe me if I told it was a drunk driver?" Tillie scoffed.

"Why that little…was he trying to push all of your buttons today?" Gabriel growled. "I swear if I had my powers I would…"

Just then, Tillie heard the sound of arguing behind the church. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Gabriel responded, looking around. But Theo also seemed to be more alert.

Tillie swore she could hear distinctly male voices getting louder, and finally she heard one of them say "Luci, you got some 'splainin' to do!" At the same time, Theo began barking and took off running, but in the opposite direction of the arguing, faster than either of them could have imagined.

"That darn dog!" Gabriel exclaimed as he took off running after Theo. Not that he really cared if the mutt disappeared on them, but he thought that it would matter to Tillie.

Tillie took the opportunity to run towards the voices she heard. Gabriel stopped when he noticed. "Hey!" he yelled after her. "What are you doing?"

"You follow Theo. I'm taking a short cut through the back of the church and I'll try to cut him off," she lied. She knew Theo was trying to lead them away from whatever was going on behind the church. She was determined to find out what it was.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"Why are you here, brother? There is nothing of interest for you," Michael said, resisting the urge to growl at his obstinate little brother.

"I could ask you the same thing, Mikey," Lucifer purred. "Besides, I have as much right to be here as you do. Dad kicked me out of Heaven. But both of us have the right to influence humans on Earth, now don't we? The real question is, which of the humans here on this speck of dust have captured your attention and why?"

"How do you know I'm not here just taking a little vacation? It's a great town to grab a beer and catch a baseball game," Michael chuckled.

"You have been spending too much time with our little brother if you expect me to believe that answer, " Lucifer said, trying to sound amused, but his face showed that he was beginning to get irritated with his brother. "But I don't need you to tell me. I am well on my way to figuring it out. I have operatives working on this and we are close to knowing the secrets you are keeping from us. I know enough to realize you are hiding someone from another dimension. But not for long. And then you will find out exactly how much trouble I can cause you."

Michael kept his face guarded and did not respond to his younger brother. But it did surprise him that Lucifer had learned so much about their mission already. They would have to change their tactics to stay ahead of him in order to protect all involved.

"Your silence only confirms that I'm right," Lucifer said with a smirk.

"You don't know as much as you think you do, little brother," Michael said. "If you're not careful, you will find that you're the one that ends up in trouble here."

A rustling in the grass caused them both to look in the direction from which the noise emanated. A breathless woman with brown wavy hair came to a dead stop when she saw the two of them behind the church. Michael had to bite back the rare urge to swear when he saw her. Gabriel was supposed to ensure that she stayed away from this meeting.

Lucifer noted the look that passed across his older brother's face at the sudden appearance of the woman. "What's wrong, Mikey? You weren't expecting one of your sheeple to stop by during our little family get together?"

Michael moved to stand between the woman and Lucifer, but before he could say anything, Gabriel, no longer in his dog form, appeared amongst the group as well. Without saying a word, Gabriel grabbed the woman from behind and the two of then disappeared.

"She's not your concern, Lucifer," Michael said. "And it would be wise to simply leave this matter well enough alone."

Lucifer said nothing. He just smiled at Michael with an expression that would have left the Joker himself cold.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you so much for the continued feedback and reviews! I am trying very hard to get this done and posted before I leave for vacation this coming Friday, so I won't leave all of you hanging for over a week. Good for you/bad for me: I have to stay up all night on an awake shift at one of my own group homes tonight, which means I will have lots of time to write while everyone sleeps.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

When Theo took off running, Gabriel followed him in the direction he dashed off in. He wasn't sure how much good it had done, because the dog had disappeared so fast. So he had no idea if the dog was taking the same path he was. He could only hope. He headed in the same direction for about five blocks, occasionally calling out the dog's name, but never hearing him bark. He never even saw a hint of the darn thing. He was about to give up and head back to the cemetery, when he had an unexplainable urge to look for at least a few more blocks.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie took off running towards the back of the church. She could hear two men arguing, but she wasn't sure what it was about. She didn't understand how Gabriel couldn't hear it, because to her it was fairly loud. As she rounded the corner behind the church, she stopped short. What she saw dumbfounded her. The men she saw couldn't really be men. They were much taller than anyone she had ever seen. They were surprised by her appearance, but kept on arguing. However, she still couldn't make out what they were saying. One of them obviously had malice towards her, while the other moved into her line of sight. But before she could speak up and ask any questions, she felt a pair of arms grab her and the scene before her disappeared.

The next thing she knew, Tillie felt herself falling to her knees and she had to catch herself before her face became more acquainted with grass than she was comfortable with.

"What exactly do you think you were doing?" she heard someone yell at her. Tillie looked up to see Gabriel, and she was pretty she sure it was the Gabriel from this dimension, since they were no longer anywhere near the church.

"I…I…was trying to get more information," she stammered. "I could hear those two arguing and I wanted to know what it was about."

"I was trying to lead you _away_ from them, or didn't you get that by the fact that I ran in the opposite direction?" Gabriel said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tillie stood up, brushing herself off. "No, I understood what you were tying to do. But I wanted more information and I saw an opportunity for it, so I took it. You have only shown me a little of what is to come, and seeing what I have to give up, I think it is only fair that I should get to know more."

"Fair? Nothing about this is fair!" he said with a scowl. "Do you have an idea who that was?"

"I know they weren't human, but other than that, I couldn't understand a thing they were saying," Tillie answered. "So are you going to fill me in, or just yell at me for doing something stupid?"

Gabriel got up in her face and spoke very quietly. "You don't realize how foolish your actions were. Those were my brothers, Michael and Lucifer. This whole mission, we have been trying to fly under the radar. Trying not to let Lucifer find out about it, because the last thing we need is for him to be reminded there are other worlds that he could taint. Somehow, he got wind of it anyway. And then you had to go and barge in on the family meeting. So now he knows who at least one of the key players is. Despite all of the protection we have in place around you, he will probably be gunning for you."

Tillie blanched as she tried to back away from Gabriel, but he was too quick for her. He grabbed her by her wrists. "No, I'm not going to let you run. But I'm not going to let Lucifer get to you either. We are just going have to move up our timetable."

Her eyes widened in shock. "To when?" she choked out.

"Tomorrow," was his answer.

Any other questions she had were cut short by the fact that they heard Gabriel, the archangel that had started all of this, calling for Theo. So the Gabriel Tillie had been speaking to quickly changed to his dog form while Tillie sank back down to her knees, buried her face into Theo and began to sob.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel was done searching for the mutt. Clearly the dog was done with them and had moved onto rabbits, squirrels or whatever dogs found to be of more interest than humans. So he made the executive decision to be done with Theo. He headed back towards the church in hopes of at least finding Tillie. Instead, he found both of them sitting on the ground.

"Hey! Did you forget about me?" he complained. "Were you going to tell me that you found the Amazing Wandering Mutt, or were you going to leave me out there on my own all night? Tillie…Tillie?"

When Tillie looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes, he realized she had been crying. He sat down next to her. "It's okay, Till. You found the dog," he offered, putting an arm around her and trying to comfort her. But he suspected this was related to things other than the golden retriever they had spent the better part of an hour searching for. "Tell you what, why don't we head back? You've had a long day, and you probably need something to eat by now."

As they walked back to the group home in silence, Gabriel could tell something had changed in Tillie's demeanor, but he was hesitant to bring it up. The day had been long for her. Between accepting the truth about him and dealing with the state case worker, all the way up to firing Aaron, visiting her families' graves and losing the mutt, she probably was just exhausted and needed to go home. So she really threw him for a loop when they actually got back to the group home. She spent a few moments speaking to each of the guys, and then announced to everyone that she was taking them all out for pizza for dinner, and then they would go bowling afterwards.

"Are you nuts?" he asked when he pulled her aside while everyone else was getting ready to go out to the van. "If I had my powers, and was planning an elaborate trick as Loki, I wouldn't have thrown crap this bad at you today." Tillie gave him a look that bore through him. "Alright, okay, you're right. I've done worse. But I can see no reason why any Trickster god would pick on you like this, including me. So why are you torturing yourself by staying at work? You should call it a day and just go home after everything you've been through."

"It's not like their day has been any better," Tillie said, motioning to the other residents. "Like him or not, Aaron was one of their favorite staff. He worked here for a long time. And they saw him come to work drunk, act like an idiot and get fired. I would just like them to have something positive to remember about this day. Going out tonight won't erase the bad things, but it may help the day end on a better note for everyone. Including me."

Tillie grabbed the van keys and headed outside to join the rest of the residents and the staff who were already in the van. "Are you coming with us, or staying here with the dog?" she called back to Gabriel. "If you're a good boy, maybe we'll get ice cream, too." Gabriel needed no further he encouragement. He stopped arguing and quickly ran to catch up with Tillie.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

As much as Tillie hated to admit it, even if it was just to herself, part of her knew Gabriel was right. She had had an incredibly stressful day. Even he didn't know how long or difficult it had been. And she probably needed to rest. But she needed this, too. She needed some time with the guys, her guys, that would just be fun and relaxing. Especially before tomorrow. And as much as she had appreciated having Theo around, he couldn't tag along to the pizza parlor or the bowling alley. So it would give her a break from all of the drama for a short while. Or so she thought.

After they got a large table at the pizza parlor and were able to put in an order that satisfied all of the different appetites, or at least most of them, because no Gabriel, they don't serve mead here, you will have to chose something else. It was after all of that when the trouble began. Despite the number of times she ran into it, Tillie would never get used to it.

A group of guys from a local college were sitting near them and they noticed the guys. Noticed they were different. And that is when the name calling began. At first it came across as innocent banter within their own group, calling each other "idiot" or "moron". But when names like "tard", "schizo" and "Sybil" started being tossed in their direction or used in direct reference to Gene or Dave, Tillie had enough.

It wasn't the first time she gave someone else a piece of her mind for using derogatory language about people with disabilities. But she was so tired, it was probably the first time she ever lost it herself and made a scene. "How in the hell would you feel if someone was calling you by the names you deserve, assholes?" she yelled. She was so loud the manager had to come over and Gabriel had to pull her away from the other table.

"So much for making a positive memory for everyone," he quipped. "Besides, my way was much more fun."

"What did you do?" she demanded. But she didn't have too wait long to get her answer, for the group of college kids were soon downing their beers extremely fast and begging for more from their waitress. Gabriel smirked as he pulled a bottle of Tabasco sauce out his pocket and placed it back on the table. Then as the waitress was bringing them two more pitchers of beer, she tripped and the beers spilled all over the three guys responsible for most of the name calling. Tillie glared at Gabriel.

"Hey! Don't look at me," he said innocently. "As great as that was, I had nothing to do with that part. I'm sitting here next to you. And she was on the other side of the restaurant. I am completely without any ability to do that." Tillie sighed, still skeptical.

But when she went up to pay for the pizza, she heard a voice say, "Gabriel is telling you the truth. He had nothing to do with the beer. I should know because it was me."

Tillie looked at the man who came up behind her. "Are you even allowed to do that? Or is he rubbing off on you because he has been in this dimension long enough?" He just shrugged as she took her change from the cashier. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked.

"You didn't think I would stay on the porch like a good little puppy, waiting for you to come back tonight did you? Not after all of the trouble your little stunt caused earlier today. I'll see you later at the bowling alley. Maybe I'll turn up as a girl there," he said with a wink.

Gabriel of this dimension was nothing if not true to his word. No sooner had Tillie gotten her group set up and bowling in two lanes at the Tropicana Lanes, than a group of four "ladies" began bowling in the lane next to them. She knew this was no normal group by the conversation she overheard.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this _Ellie_," a girl with dark hair complained. "I look ridiculous."

"Oh lighten up, _Michelle_. You look fine. Besides, it's all for a good cause," the blonde girl laughed as she nodded her head in Tillie's direction.

"Ellie's right," a red head spoke up. "This will be fun!"

"Shut up, Anna!" Michelle exclaimed. "This isn't a problem for you. This is something that comes natural to you!"

"I also fail to see the issue," the fourth girl added. She had her dark hair in a pony-tail and wore glasses. "Adjusting our appearance should be commonplace by now."

"Et tu, Cassie?" Michelle sighed. "I stand alone among my brethren."

"Actually, you don't, _sis_," Ellie pointed out. "That is why you are complaining so much right now."

If that wasn't weird enough, it got really strange when Gabriel came back from getting snacks. "Wow! Hot chick alert at three o'clock!" he proclaimed. "Ya' know Till, as much fun as bowling with you guys sounds, I think I'll take my chances with the ladies over there."

"Now who's lost it?" Tillie scoffed, trying to keep him from going over there.

"What's the big deal?" he asked as he shrugged it off.

"The big deal is that you aren't even from around here," Tillie said, hoping he wouldn't make a fool of himself.

"It's never really been a problem for me before," he said, waggling his eyebrows and heading off to join the ladies. "So ladies, I'm new to these here parts. What do you do for fun around here?" he asked as he approached the four of them.

Cassie tilted her head as she regarded the newcomer to their group. "We are bowling. That is considered by some to be a fun activity."

Gabriel gawked at her. "You remind me of someone I know, but there is no way…"

Before Gabriel could question Cassie further, Ellie linked elbows with him, "So why did you ditch your group and join us?"

"You have to ask?" Gabriel replied. "Hanging out with four beautiful girls, or a bunch of boring guys I sort of live with. That's no contest."

"It's not all boring guys," Anna piped in, eyeing the group and pointing to Tillie. "She doesn't seem boring and she definitely isn't a guy."

"What? No that's Tillie," Gabriel said. "She's…well, she is just…Tillie."

"Uh-huh," Anna giggled, while Michelle and Ellie exchanged a look.

"Leave him alone, Anna," Michelle chided.

"Ah-ha! I've learned one of your names," Gabriel smiled in victory. "What about the rest of you? Care to share?"

"I have a better idea," Ellie suggested with an oddly familiar smirk. "You beat anyone of us in bowling, and we will tell you our names."

"A game?" Gabriel laughed. "You're on."

Gabriel was quickly reminded that he was practically human. He could barely manage to get the ball to the end of the lane. Most of his attempts ended in gutter balls, though he managed to knock down a few pins on occasion and even got one strike, though he was sure by that time it was entirely by luck.

The ladies on the other hand, must have been professionals. He was glad he didn't bet them anything other than getting to know their names, because he would have lost everything. They bowled strike after strike. So he thought he try a different approach.

"Ya'know, some kids believe that thunder is the sound of angels bowling. Watching you ladies, I might be tempted to agree."

Michelle nearly choked on the beer she was drinking, while Cassie attempted to launch into a description on true nature of thunderstorms.

However, it was all interrupted by Tillie, who had overheard Gabriel's latest attempt and came over and grabbed him bar the arm. "You are shameless," she hissed. "We need to go, now!"

"Really?" he said, disappointed. "What about the ice cream?"

"You thought flirting with four ladies constituted being good?" she asked. But in reality, Tillie just needed to get them all back to the group home soon. Her head had started to hurt even worse than this morning and she needed to get them there before she really got sick.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thank you so much for the continued feedback and reviews! We are getting closer to the end...  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

They got back to the group home without incident, though Tillie's head was pounding to the point she just wanted to curl up in a ball and…well, she didn't really want to finish that thought. Theo was waiting on the porch when they got back and happily greeted them upon their return. Everyone was in a good mood and seemed to have been happier for having gone out, so Tillie considered it worth the effort.

Even Gabriel was jovial and greeted Theo pleasantly. "Hey big fellow! Did you enjoy yourself while we were gone? Find any bitches of your own to hang out with?" When Theo barked at him, Tillie burst out laughing, despite her headache. Maybe it was the memory of the Gabriel trying to flirt with angles from this dimension at the bowling alley or maybe it was just the stress of the day finally getting to her, but Tillie couldn't stop laughing. Gabriel just stared at her as if she had sprouted a second head. "It wasn't that funny," he pouted with fake indignation.

"You really have no idea," she gasped between laughs, and Gabriel cracked a smile again. But no sooner had the words parted her lips than blood soon followed out her nose. And it wasn't just a regular nosebleed, it was a gusher. She had copious amounts of blood coming out of her nose and then soon her mouth. She quickly sat down and leaned forward. As she did so, she instinctively grabbed onto the locket around her neck, the one her parents had given to her on her sixteenth birthday. It had always been a source of comfort for her when she was upset, even more so once they had died.

"Shit, Tillie! What the hell?" Gabriel exclaimed, as he ran up to her, trying to help.

She waved him off saying, "Towels…I need you to get me towels." As Gabriel ran off to get towels, she looked at Theo. "Isn't there anything you can do?" she asked. He just looked at her and cocked his head. "Of course not. You wouldn't want to blow your precious cover."

Gabriel returned at that moment with some dish towels and he held one to her nose until it became completely soaked. He exchanged the soaked towel for a fresh one. "This isn't a normal nosebleed," he observed.

"It goes hand in hand with my headache," Tillie said, trying to wipe up some of the blood off of her face, clothing and even her locket, now that the flow had finally subsided.

"Headaches and nosebleeds aren't supposed to go together, Tillie," Gabriel said, his voice full of concern. "That's not normal. Have you seen a doctor?"

"No, I just get all of this medication I carry around with me from a dealer off the street," she glared at him and he took a step back from her. "Of course I've seen a doctor, and yes, I know nosebleeds aren't normal with headaches. I don't get the nosebleeds as often as the headaches. But having a small blood vessel burst at the back of your nasal passage is better than having one actually burst in my brain, don't you think?"

Gabriel looked at her as if she had hit a raw nerve. "Tillie, if you think you're going to be alright, then you really need to go home. You can't stay at work all the time and expect to get better," he said coolly.

When she realized she offended him, she apologized. "Sorry, I don't do vulnerable all that well. For once, I'm not going to argue with you," Tillie said. She just picked up her things and headed to her car, without saying any further goodbyes. Not surprisingly, Theo followed her, and Tillie allowed him into her car without explanation to anyone.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Aaron Steeple held his head in his hands. What had he done? Ruined his life. That is what he had done. For the most part, considering where he grew up, he should have counted himself lucky. Or blessed. His grandmother would have said blessed. He had managed to stay out of gangs and trouble thanks to her. He had even managed to get good grades and a college scholarship.

That didn't mean he didn't know people who could procure a thing or two. That is how he managed to get his hands on some fake identification. And a few other things when he was younger. Not that his grandmother ever heard about that. He was almost finished with grad school and would have had a great recommendation from a wonderful employer if he hadn't blown it all to hell by those stupid choices he made.

The voices in his head kept reminding him how stupid he was, how foolish he was, how worthless he was. He had drank down all the alcohol he had left in is apartment. And now the voices were telling him he had no real reason to go on. His grandmother had died last year and he would never get a job now. If he was lucky that was the worst that would happen to him. But more than likely, he would end up dead or in jail like all of the other kids from his neighborhood. It just took him longer. The voices in his head suggested that dead might be better as he swallowed the pills from the medicine cabinet. But he immediately regretted it. "Dear God, please help me," he prayed before he sank into oblivion.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

After the rather odd experience of bowling among humans, Castiel was given his newest assignment. As he waited outside of the apartment to be officially invited in, he watched what was happening. It saddened him that Father's creations were so susceptible to manipulation by demons. That this petty creature could twist the thoughts and words of this young man so that he would do her biding, only then to turn on him so that he could be disposed of made him burn with righteous anger.

This is the world that Lucifer wished to create. Full of lies, insecurities, backstabbing. There was no purpose in it other than to destroy what his Father had created, to destroy what his Father loved.

The boy was miserable because he had made poor choices, but those choices had been made under demonic influence. And that demon was now trying to destroy the boy she had used. But little did she know, the boy had cried out to his Father for help. And as soon as he did, Castiel stepped in to provide it.

Ruby was no match for Castiel. She wasn't expecting him and his size alone overwhelmed her. He didn't even have to draw his sword. A few words from an old Enochian ritual and she was gone. Dead. Banished to Hell.

The harder work would be the boy. Calling emergency services was easy. But if he truly wanted to live, if he truly wanted redemption, then Aaron Steeple had a very long road ahead of him. And he would have to forge new relationships to accomplish it. Because he would have to do it without Tillie, without his grandmother and without a job. He might not know it, but he would have Castiel to guide him. He wouldn't get that wonderful job after grad school and he might very well end up in jail. Redemption is never easy work. But it is always worth it.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel had been around for a long time. And he had been known for plenty of things. Being the Messenger of God, the Angel of Death, Loki the Trickster, having a great sense of humor, being the life of the party, and one heck of a lover, even if he did say so himself. But he had never been known for being stupid.

Tillie had been right that he had his powers of observations. And he had picked up on many things since he had been here. He had kept them all to himself, biding his time, trying to put all of the pieces together. Today had been full of revelations. But as he picked up the blood soaked towels, he realized he was running out of time. And he might not be the only one. Seeing the blood, well that gave him another idea entirely.

The last time he tried to contact anyone he knew, or thought he knew, he didn't even understand that he was in a different dimension. This time, he had that going for him, so he was going to have to be a little more straight forward in his approach.

He set up the candles in his room, performed the ritual that he had learned eons ago and hoped to the gods that someone was listening. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't disappointed, at least in the fact that she had actually shown. Her fashion sense in this dimension left a lot to be desired, but that isn't why he summoned her here. So maybe things were starting to go his way after all.

"Why did you call me here?" the new being in the room demanded.

"Good to see you, too hot stuff," Gabriel answered with a smile.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Castiel arrived back outside the group home to inform Michael that the demon Ruby had been killed and the Steeple boy was in the hospital receiving medical attention. For now, he was also under the watchful eye of his sister Annael as Castiel updated his older brother and helped him prepare for the battle to come.

As they were talking, Castiel noticed a disturbance in the area. "What is that, brother?" he inquired.

"It seems that one of our charges has fallen back into his pagan habits. He is calling on someone he knows from those days. I assume he thinks they will be of use in getting him home," Michael answered. "He doesn't realize how close he is to getting there without help from outsiders. Besides the fact that she won't recognize in this world, she doesn't have the power to get him home. Only our Father does."

"Are you sure that is all he is doing Michael?" Castiel wondered. "He seems the type that you could easily underestimate."

"There is very little the pagans could bring to the table in this matter, Castiel," Michael scoffed. "Whatever Gabriel is discussing with her, I am sure it will have little consequence on our overall plans."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie was silent the whole way to her house, despite the fact the Gabriel had changed from his dog form into something more familiar, something more…human.

"You've been unusually quiet," Gabriel observed as they entered her home. "Especially considering the questions you had earlier today."

"I've been unusually jerked around today," Tillie retorted. "With all of your angelic powers, I don't think I have to tell you what my questions are, so you can either answer them for me, or better yet, why don't you just make my headache go away so I can sleep?"

Gabriel said nothing. Instead he just passed his hand over her face and as Tillie collapsed into unconsciousness, he picked her up and moved her to her bed.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"How is it that an insignificant human such as yourself knows one of my most secret summoning rituals," the goddess hissed.

"Aw, sweetheart, in another time and another place, I wasn't so insignificant to you," Gabriel said waggling his eyebrows. "I also wasn't so…human."

"You dare claim to know me?" she asked, anger in her voice rising.

"Now Kali, no reason to get upset," he said. "I've never met you here in this dimension. But where I'm from, you and I know each other in every possible way. And I'm hoping that counts for something."

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment. Despite being an annoying little pest, he had to learn the ritual from somewhere. She only shared it with those she trusted it the most. "It buys you enough time to explain to me why I risked the wrath the archangel protecting this place to answer your call."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that. He had suspected that there might be some supernatural involvement, but Kali had just confirmed for him that there was definitely something happen behind the scenes here and his "distance relatives" from this world were involved. So he told Kali exactly why he called her. He asked her flat out to help him and what he thought she could to for him. And then he showed her the towel he had held onto from earlier in the evening.

"What you are asking," Kali said. "I have never done anything like that before."

"Sure you have, or at least in my world," Gabriel said with all the charm he could muster. "I am not actually asking you to do the heavy lifting. I'm looking for you to arrange more of what the kids on the playground would call a piggyback ride. And to do that, all you need to do is one of your traditional spells. I've seen you do that plenty of times."

"These are not the materials I am used to working with," she chided. "I usually get my own."

"Well, it's all we've got," he admitted. "And the Kali I know never did back down from a challenge."

"I'm not afraid of a challenge," she replied. "But it will just increase the risk to you. And besides, if I do this for you, what do I get out of it?"

"Only my undying love, adoration and worship," Gabriel said as he tried to win her over. "At least as long as I am in this dimension. Then once I'm gone, I'll be out of your hair for good."

"That is the best part of your offer so far," she responded.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Meg Masters had a long day at the FBI office in St. Louis. It was hard enough investigating crimes. But when you added on the fact that she had to plant evidence and coerce confessions in order to place these weak humans into positions of bargaining for their souls, it became wearisome at times. Especially given the fact that she had to do much of this on her own, away from her beloved Father.

But tomorrow all of that would change. He had come here for a special mission of his own. One that now involved her. A seemingly boring case that involved identity theft and fraudulent use of government funding had caught the attention of her Father. And he had decided to go along with her tomorrow on her "investigation". She could hardly wait. She hoped her work would be pleasing to him.


	13. Chapter 13 Note

A/N: Okay, so I am not big fan of doing this, because I know how disappointed I am when I have a story on alert and I only get a note. But since I have been in the habit of updating this story every two to three days, I just though it fair to give you a heads up before hand.

I tried very hard to find the time to work on the next chapter before now, but alas, real life worked against me. I was supposed to get the afternoon off, but I work directly for the owner of a company and received a call yesterday that he would be coming to town and I had to meet with him and a potential new client today. So I ended up leaving work late. Now I have to pack for my vacation, and we are leaving at o'dark thirty in the morning. So no update tonight, sorry. And internet service will be sketchy while I am gone. I will write while I am gone, because it is relaxing as well as therapeutic for me. But I don't know if I can post. So at worst, you will get a new chapter in twelve days. At best, you will get a surprise sometime between now and then.

I just didn't want you guys who have read & reviewed or put this story on alert to think that I am abandoning this fic, because I am not. Your support has meant the world to me. I know exactly where it is going and I look forward to sharing it with you. I just will be taking a much needed but very delayed vacation.

Thank you so much for hanging in there with me.

Aunt Mo


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sorry that it has been so long since my last update. I am not going to even blame it on the problems this site has had with posting that I have heard about. I just had a wonderful vacation in Colorado, and then have been very busy catching up on real life since I returned.**

Despite having the benefit of an archangel sleeping aid, Tillie still had a fitful sleep. Gabriel only helped her fall asleep. He hadn't truly healed her of her headache. And there isn't really anything restful about sleeping when you were dreaming that you had a headache for the simple fact that you actually do have one. That, and her dreams were also flooded with strange images. Images of a storm, a war, and a struggle to find her way in the darkness.

Then the dreams began to change. She felt a burn within her. Deeper than a fever, it felt as though it came from within her soul. And the images shifted to emotions, emotions and memories. Memories that were not her own. The deep connection and happiness that came to being with a family that loved one another. The hurt and confusion associated when that family fought. The betrayal and abandonment that came when they broke apart and the utter despair and loneliness of a runaway. The dreams shifted once again to the quiet hope at the possibility of finding another family, only to have to those hopes dashed by more betrayal and loneliness. Despair, loneliness and pain that were covered by jokes, tricks, cruelty and judgment over the years in the attempt to fill a bottomless void.

Tillie woke up gasping for breath as the burning within her faded to the furthest reaches of her awareness without entirely disappearing. It was replaced by the throbbing in the right side of her head that felt like someone was trying to drive an ice pick through her eye clear to the back of her skull. She saw that Gabriel was standing over her, watching her. She didn't it even bother to acknowledge him, let alone ask him for assistance. She knew what this day ultimately held in store for her. She might as well get it started.

She headed to the kitchen and took the medication that would at least make her functional, even if it wouldn't relieve the pain. She swallowed down some toast, which was all she could stomach, before heading out the door, Gabriel following closely behind her.

"There is something different about you this morning," he mentioned, as they were on their way to the group home.

"You mean like the fact that I still have a killer headache which you didn't actually heal?" Tillie growled.

"The headache…I can't…" Gabriel tried to explain.

"Yeah, I know," Tillie answered. "But it's really hard to be gracious about anything when you feel like crap."

"But it wasn't the headache I was talking about," Gabriel said as he reached out to touch her. "There is something else. If I could just…"

"Uh, no...back off, Bub" Tillie said pushing his hand away. "Besides the fact that I am driving, I am in no mood to be touched by an angel, especially Vulcan mind-meld style."

"Fine," Gabriel agreed. "Would you at least tell me if you had any unusual dreams last night?"

"I always have unusual dreams," Tillie scoffed. "So which parts do want to hear about…the dancing lollipops or the magical teddy bear?"

Gabriel sighed. She was clearly in no mood to cooperate with him. He was beginning to think they should have shown her everything and not just bits and pieces, and maybe she would be more receptive to the events of the day. As they approached the group home and he changed into his dog form, Gabriel became determined to figure out what had changed in Tillie before it affected the rest of their plans.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"So then are you sure everything is taken care of, Alex?" Gabriel overheard Tillie say into the phone as he stood at her office door. She looked even more tired and pale than she had last night, which concerned him, since she should be feeling better if she had gotten any rest at all. "I appreciate the work you have put into this. Lemme guess, you're going to bill this as a breakfast meeting," she joked before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Gabriel asked as he entered her office.

"Oh, um, just my lawyer." Tillie answered casually.

"Lawyer? What do you need a lawyer for?" Gabriel asked, worry in his voice.

"There are plenty of legal issues that come with running a group home," Tillie answered. "Not the least of which is firing an employee who comes to work intoxicated, and who happened to use an illegal ID to get you funding. I'm just making sure to cover all my bases so…the home…faces as little liability as possible."

Gabriel felt like there was more she wasn't telling him, but he didn't push it. "So I need to be at work soon. Are you ready to take me?"

"Oh, shoot," she said, looking up at the clock. "I almost forgot. Give me a few minutes and I will be downstairs."

While Tillie collected her things, Gabriel went outside on the porch. He noticed Theo lying out there as well. He didn't think that the mutt showing up was a coincidence, especially after his conversation with Kali last night. As he sat down next to him, he absent-mindedly began to scratch the dog behind the ears. "You know buddy, I would bet that you know what is going on around here. In fact, with annoying as you have been, I would even venture to say that you might be one of my distance relatives in disguise."

Theo cocked his head at Gabriel as the powerless angel continued, "So the question is, who? Zach is too much of a stickler for the rules to pull off something like this and Cas is too much of a stick in the mud. Actually, most of my brothers are sticks in the mud so I can't imagine them being that much different here. If I didn't know better, I would say you were more like…"

"Gabriel," Tillie called, as she walked out the front door. "Are you ready to leave? We need to get going. I already had a full day planned and Jenny just told me the dishwasher is leaking, so I am going to have to get a repairman out here on short notice."

"Yeah sure," he answered, as he stood up and walked with Tillie. Theo followed the two of them to the car and the trio rode most of the way to the post office in silence, except for the quick call that Tillie made to arrange for someone to come fix the dishwasher.

As they pulled up in front of the post office and Tillie parked the car, Gabriel noticed Tillie shedding a few tears. "Hey, are you are okay?"

She quickly brushed the tears away as she said, "It's just my head. It's still hurting. And I've been feeling a little… oh, it isn't important. But I'm sure I'll be fine by the end of the day. Speaking of which, since I'm a little short-handed, I won't be able to pick you up form work to today. So it will be one of the other staff."

"Oh," Gabriel said, surprised. "You mean I have to trust someone other than you to cart me around in one of those human death traps you call a car?"

"Gabriel," Tillie sighed. "Please trust me…you'll be in good hands." Tillie pressed her palms to her face for a moment and when she lifted her head, Gabriel reached over and tucked a few stray curls behind her ear.

"It will get better, I promise," he said, hoping his observations and the plans he made would actually work out and not bite him in the ass.

"Really? Are you getting your powers back or something?" She gave Gabriel a weak smile before he got out of the car. "Have a good day at work, okay?" As he closed the door, she quietly whispered, "Goodbye," assuming that Gabriel didn't hear her.

Except that he did.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"You're giving too much away," Gabriel chided, as Tillie drove back to the group home. "He already suspects that I am angel and now you practically told him that…"

"Does it really matter?" Tillie asked, cutting him off. "You're sending him back to his dimension today and you haven't even told him that much. And you're getting on my case because I said goodbye when I dropped him off? Please, spare me the lecture and go ahead and change back to being dog, since we are back at the group home."

As Tillie and Theo got out of the car, Tillie noticed a van in the driveway and assumed it was the repairman. When she walked into the house, Jenny and the guys were watching TV. Theo followed Tillie into the kitchen, where she found the repairman working on the dishwasher. He stood up, wiped his hands on his jeans and introduced himself.

"Hello," he said. "My name is Michael."

Tillie raised an eyebrow at that and glanced down at Theo who appeared to be contentedly wagging his tail at the moment.

"You're dishwasher is pretty messed up and I'm going to be here awhile," he said. "I will even need to turn the water off to work on it. If possible, you might want to send your residents out for the day. Especially given the fact that you are about to have some other visitors, too."

Tillie looked out the window and saw another vehicle headed toward the house. "Jenny," she called out. "Why don't you take the rest of the guys to the zoo for the day? It looks like we might be without water for a few hours." Despite a few groans from Dave at the interruption in his schedule, Jenny was able to get the guys out the door on short notice, while Michael tried to call Theo over to him. Theo, however, didn't take to kindly to the idea of being petted by the repairman and growled at him.

"What? You don't like being coddled by your older brother?" Tillie asked, looking at Theo, which made Michael laugh out loud.

"I take it then, I don't have to explain who I am?"

"No," Tillie answered, "But It would be nice if you told me everything that was going on."

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for that," Michael answered, as two figures walked up the stairs and onto the front porch.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*  
_

As Gabriel went to clock in at the post office, he was immediately greeted by Lizzie Jones, his supervisor.

"Gabriel, before you clock in, I need to see you in my office," she said to him, a grim look on her face.

Gabriel groaned inwardly. If he had screwed up another job, Tillie would kill him. As he sat down across from Lizzie, he could tell it wasn't good.

"Gabriel," she sighed. "You've been a joy to have around…but I don't even know if that is your real name. I ran your standard background check and your social security number belongs to someone else. I am going to have to let you go."

Gabriel stared at her for a moment. It didn't surprise him that the fake ID had been discovered, but he didn't want to disappoint Tillie. He wanted to hang onto his job as long as he was here. "Can't you let me stay on just for a few days? Give me a chance?"

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Lizzie said. "I really like you and you're a hard worker, but I can't, especially now that the FBI is investigating the matter."

"What…the…the FBI?" Gabriel stuttered. "I…okay…I will leave." The only thing Gabriel could think of was calling Tillie, to let her know that the FBI was now involved in the shenanigans that he helped create. He stumbled out of the post office, and tried to call her, but her voice mail picked up. As he started to leave a message, he bumped into a dark hair stranger.

"Excuse me sir," the stranger said, as he grasped Gabriel by the forearm. "You look like you could use a hand." Gabriel looked up at the man's face and saw familiar blue eyes staring back at him.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Meg Masters rarely felt giddy. But today was an exception. Today she was working with her Father. And she would show him her best. Not only was she going to get to show him how she could twist an investigation to their favor, but she would get to bring down one of those lousy do-gooders in the process. As the two of them walked up the stairs to the group home, it was all she could do to keep form bouncing on her toes with excitement. That was not her usual style and she had to keep her cool in order to impress Him.

She knocked on the door and was greeted by a woman whom she considered to be mousy. Really, where did they find these people? But that was not her concern. By the end of the day, she would own the woman and this place.

"Ethel Chambers?" she said, suppressing a giggle. Ethel, how fitting. "I'm Megan Masters from the FBI and this is my Superior. I'm here to issue a search warrant on your office and your records in regards to the fraudulent use of government funding."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Again, thank you so much for the continued feedback. I thought this would be the last chapter, but we haven't quite got there yet. Maybe next time.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

"Ca-Cas...Bro," Gabriel stammered as he looked into the other man's face while righting himself. "You really are here."

"Castiel. My name is Castiel," the angel stated, slightly irritated. "And I am not your 'Bro'. I just took on this appearance because Michael said it would be familiar to you. I suppose, however, we might be considered distant relatives."

"Michael is here, too?" Gabriel asked. "Just for me? I didn't know he cared. Didn't know any of you cared for all the attention you've paid me."

"You're an archangel from another dimension that showed up here," Castiel said. "Your arrival has created quite a stir, as well as some…complications. Of course we care. We just had to be careful not to show ourselves, so that others would not notice."

"Notice… who is there to notice? If you and Mikey are here, why that would only leave…" Gabriel stopped mid sentence, paling. "Oh dear Dad, no. Not him…not the great big bag of dicks responsible for sending me here. He knows I am here? That's worse than the FBI investigating my fake ID."

Castiel sighed. "Not that Lucifer, but the one that belongs here in our world. He knows that we are hiding someone from another dimension, and he is fast at work trying to figure out who, and why. And he and one of his demons, Meg, are the FBI investigators working on the fake identification case. Michael has been working to keep Lucifer at bay, so that we could get you home today."

"Wait? I'm going home, today?" Gabriel asked, only slightly surprised, more at the timing than anything else. Suddenly, Tillie telling him goodbye when she thought he couldn't hear her made more sense than it did before. He wondered how she knew when he only suspected. "Well then take me back to the group home! It's not like I have packing or anything to do, but I at least need to tell Tillie. If Luci & his annoying little minion are investigating me, then Tillie deserves a heads up. She also deserves someone better than a guard dog protecting her!"

"You will get no closer than the front yard of the group home today. And even then, that will be under my protection. It is too risky with everything else going on," Castiel explained. "Tillie is well protected. Besides, before we send you anywhere, I need you to explain to me why a Hindu goddess came to visit you last night."

Gabriel shoved his hands in pockets, shuffled his feet and refused to meet Castiel's piercing eyes.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie looked up at Michael, who nodded. It was better to have this take place in the house than out on the porch, or in the yard where the neighbors could see. So Tillie opened the door and stepped back, letting Meg and her "Superior" into the group home. The thought that she just let a demon and Lucifer into a place that she had made in to a sanctuary for others made her skin crawl. But there was no getting it around it at the moment.

She looked up at Meg. "I will get the records for you to look over, but you won't find anything here," Tillie said defiantly.

Meg walked right up to Tillie and stood toe to toe with her. "We'll be the judge of that," she spat in her face. "Now get me the records. You won't be able you hide anything thing from me."

"I don't have anything to you hide from you. I turned everything over to my lawyer this morning," Tillie admitted. "And he is turning it all over to the Department of Mental Health today. My former employee, Aaron Steeple, confessed to securing fake identification for…one of the residents who lived here, and using it for his funding application. He also confessed to forging my signature and turning it without my knowledge. He is already in custody, after spending the night at the hospital."

"You still used DMH funding that you received under false pretenses," Meg sneered. "That will be enough to put you away. And all these poor idiots who live here, what will happen to them?"

Tillie laughed in Meg's face. "All this time pretending to be an FBI agent, and you still have no idea how the government really works, do you? I never received a dime of government funding based on the fake ID. I only received a letter just yesterday saying that Ga-…that the resident had been approved for funding. It takes at least another two months for the government to actually send a check! So I haven't received or spent any money under false pretenses. My lawyer has already started the wheels in motion to make sure that no money every shows up here based on that false application, you can be sure of that."

"Excuse me," Lucifer drawled, finally chiming in on the conversation. "Who was it that you said received the funding, the gentlemen who was using the fake ID. What is his name?"

With her headache as bad as it was, Tillie didn't think she could lose anymore color in her face, but she had been wrong. Her mouth went dry as she tried to answer, "I…I never said a name."

"You almost did," Lucifer replied drily, as he nodded to Meg. "But you caught yourself."

Meg backed Tillie up against the wall. "It…it doesn't matter," Tillie stammered. "You're not allowed to know. Resident information is confidential."

"Sweetheart," Meg cracked. "We're the FBI. Nothing is confidential. Besides, this guy used the fake ID, too. He is in as much trouble as anyone. I am sure I have a copy of that application with his name on it in my investigation file. Must be pretty important if you don't want to share."

"Lucifer," Michael growled, stepping in. "This matter has been resolved legally. You have no further reason to be here. Leave. Now."

"Brother, I may have used legal means to get through the door," Lucifer sneered. "But now that I am here, I am not leaving until I get the information I want . And I don't think you and this human are a match to stop me and my daughter from getting it."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"You had Kali do what?" Castiel asked incredulously. "Do you realize how dangerous that is? Not to mention the fact that we were already arranging something similar!"

"Well no one bothered to tell me," Gabriel snapped. "You guys here aren't all that different from my idiot brothers back home, are you? Not bothering to fill me in on something that could be important. Besides, it is not like I haven't seen Kali do something like this before. Except this time, it might be a little bit more…permanent. I was just guessing that I was going home soon, and I was making sure she'd be taken care of."

"You stand here accusing me of not informing you of our plans," Castiel pointed out. "But have you told Tillie of yours?"

"No," Gabriel huffed. "Not anymore than you have. Am I right?"

"She only knows of some of the events of today," Castiel admitted. "She was not allowed to see everything that will happen. But enough of this, it is time for us to go."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Meg turned to pick up her investigation file that she had set on the table so she could find the name she had been looking for when Tillie shoved her into the table, causing the papers to go flying everywhere. Theo came bounding into the room and grabbed the application with Gabriel's name on it into his mouth and chewed it up.

"I guess the dog ate your homework, huh Meg?" Tillie mocked.

"Why you little bitch!" Meg shouted, as she lunged for Tillie. But Theo was faster than Meg as he jumped on her, knocking her down. As Meg struggled to get away from the dog, Theo bit her, right on her rear end.

Meg kicked at Theo as she screamed, "He bit me on my ass! The freaking dog just bit me on my ass!"

Lucifer ignored all of this and made his was way toward Tillie. He planned to get the information and perhaps much more, in a more subtle way. Michael moved to intercept him, but was distracted by something outside and quickly disappeared. Lucifer backed his prey up against the wall. "It seems my dear, that you angel has abandoned you here for more pleasant pastures. That should give us plenty of time to talk alone."

"I wouldn't count on that, brother," Gabriel scowled, as he stood up, having changed out of his dog form back into something more suitable for battle.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Michael appeared out in the yard shortly after Castiel brought Gabriel back. They were hidden from view in an area that he himself had set up so that only he and his brothers could see from the outside. No humans, demons, nor Lucifer himself would be able to see Gabriel or his angels in this shielded area.

"Thank you Castiel," Michael said. "Go quickly. Your help is needed inside." Without another word, Cas disappeared, leaving Michael and Gabriel alone.

"So you must be Mikey," Gabriel quipped. "How long have you been watching me squirm without lifting a finger to help?"

"This is not the time to complain," Michael said. "You could be going home any minute now. Besides, I have been helping you from behind the scenes since you got here."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"I should've known Michael wouldn't be stupid enough to leave me alone with the woman," Lucifer sighed. "But a dog, Gabriel? Really? As if humans weren't bad enough." Lucifer turned away from Gabriel and continued to move towards Tillie.

"An angel?" Meg whined. "I was bitten in the ass by an angel-dog."

"Way to keep up with the class Miss FBI investigator," Tillie snapped at Meg as she backed away from Lucifer, who was slowly coming at her.

"Leave her alone!" Gabriel bellowed.

"Even you can't stop me from asking her questions, Gabriel. That is all I am going to do," Lucifer sneered.

"Fine," Gabriel said. "But you don't need to take another step closer to ask her _questions_, brother."

Lucifer turned to Tillie. "Join me. Tell me what you know about the other dimension and I won't kill you and I will leave the home intact," he stated simply, as he were negotiating a business deal.

Tillie laughed at him. "You're kidding me, right? That is your join me or die speech? No wonder your side loses in the end. You don't have any creativity. I mean, I thought Darth Vader's speech to Luke was pretty lame but even he showed a little bit more spark than you just did. I mean Luke lost an appendage and you haven't even showed one display of power towards me. I thought for sure you might go the Luci and Ethel route, that we could make another great duo like the first two but this time we would get all of the chocolate off the assembly line," Tillie said. "But I guess I am dealing with the wrong archangel, aren't I?"

Tillie immediately regretted taunting him because a second later she found herself flung against the opposite wall, pinned, and barely able to breathe.

"I believe you said something about a display of power, Miss Chambers?" Lucifer asked as he glanced down at his nails, as if he were bored.

"So…so you finally stepped up to the plate," Tillie gasped. "Doesn't mean I am going to join you. And I'm sure as hell not going to tell you anything about any other dimensions. Don't really know much, considering I've never been to one."

Lucifer raised his hand towards her and she could feel herself being drug across the room by an invisible hand. But before she got three feet, Gabriel tackled Lucifer and they were fighting. Tillie scrambled to her feet, only to come face to face with Meg.

"Where do think you're going, dear?" Meg asked

Tillie looked up behind Meg and smiled. "No where. I just wanted to make sure you get acquainted with your new dance partner." Tillie turned the surprised demon around and shoved her into Castiel's arms.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

"So how come I've never heard about you, or this universe? How come you guys get to know about us, but we don't know about you?" Gabriel whined.

"Is that petulance I hear in your voice?" Michael asked. "I am really going to have to apologize to my little brother for ever comparing him to you."

"You mean there's another me running around here? I'm not sure whether I'm flattered or insulted. You can't really copy this kind of greatness."

"Well, yeah. You've already met 'Theo'. "

Gabriel's eyes grew wide as saucers "A dog? My vessel is a freaking dog in this dimension?"

"That's not how it works here. We can appear as whatever we wish. We didn't want to confuse you." Michael fought the urge to roll his eyes. "And this isn't about what you are allowed to know or not know. You were in trouble. And our Father, the one constant in all dimensions, decided to save your life by pulling it into this world, rather than letting you die. It is my responsibility to keep you safe until He is ready to restore your Grace and send you back."

"Yeah, and when is that going to be?" Gabriel demanded

"And soon as there is a distraction to keep the Lucifer's attention away from the energy it will take to send you home. Which could be any minute now," Michael answered as he looked toward the group home.

Gabriel followed his gaze. Realization dawned on him as soon as he saw Tillie arguing with the FBI agent through the window. "No! You bastards! You wouldn't dare! She hasn't done anything wrong. In fact, she has helped me!"

"It's out of my control," Michael sighed. "The decision has already been made."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that!" Gabriel shouted, and he tried to take off toward the house. But Michael was too quick for him. He grabbed the smaller man by the arm. Without his Grace, Gabriel was no match for Michael.

"You can do no good. You have no power here. And it is already too late," he stated.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you," Gabriel retorted. "It's not like I was entirely unprepared for something like this."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Michael hissed.

"I'm not a big fan of repeating myself," Gabriel said. "So you can ask Cas to explain when this is all over and I am long gong."

And in the next instant, everything changed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Supernatural**_** or any of its characters.**

Gabriel didn't relish fighting his older brother anymore than his counterpart from another dimension did. Fortunately, he only needed to try to keep him distracted for a little while. He tackled Lucifer in attempt to draw his attention away from Tillie. But Lucifer quickly gained the upper hand by rolling the two of them over.

"Don't be fooled by thinking I won't get my own hands dirty Gabriel," Lucifer sneered as he strangled his brother. "Just because I don't want to hurt you doesn't mean I will hesitate to do so."

Gabriel grabbed Lucifer's hands that were gripping his throat, pulled them away and threw Lucifer up against the wall. "You're a fool if you think you can get rid of me that easily," Gabriel said as he stood up.

Meanwhile, once Tillie had shoved Meg into Castiel's arms, Meg quickly wormed her way out again by jamming her knee into his groin, causing him to double over. Meg turned around to go after Tillie, grabbing her by the hair. Tillie cried out in pain, but Tillie seized Meg's hands and held them closer to her head so she couldn't pull on her hair any tighter. As Tillie was trying to turn around within Meg's grasp, she felt Meg go still, and heard a voice grumble "Let her go, now!" She felt the grip on her hair release and as she backed away she turned and saw that Castiel had captured Meg with one arm around her waist and the other with his sword at her throat.

Tillie moved away from the two of them, only to find herself smack in the middle of Lucifer and Gabriel. Just as Lucifer reached for her, Tillie clutched both sides of her head and fell to the floor.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie's head had been hurting bad enough as it was all day and now she was in the middle of ground zero for the WWE Smackdown angel style. That demon bitch Meg pulling on her hair was not helping. She wanted to find a quiet place to go lay down, but she didn't think that was going to happen. As she tried to keep Meg from yanking all of her hair out, she could hear Cas in the background and all of sudden she was free. She turned around and backed away, only to see Lucifer lunging for her.

Her headache had been getting worse throughout the morning, the pounding moving to the back of her head, pulsing louder than her own heart despite the chaos surrounding her. But then, as if it were possible, the pain in her head got worse. The throbbing grew to a crescendo and then it exploded, causing Tillie to drop to her knees. The detonation inside her head set off a cascade of smaller fireworks of pain throughout her brain and her vision went from seeing tiny flashes of lights to nothing but a blur. As the barrage of pain faded, Tillie felt a cool sensation spread from her scalp down through the rest of her body before everything faded to black.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel continued to struggle in vain against Michael as he watched the conflict unfold through the group home window. While his primary concern was Tillie, he couldn't help but wonder why it was always him, or one of "him" that had to go up against Lucifer. Wasn't that Michael's job? Not that he wanted his brothers to fight. In fact, he hated it. That is why he left Heaven in the first place. But somehow, he always ended up fighting with Luci anyway.

But all of those thoughts disappeared when he saw Tillie collapse to the floor. He immediately stilled. He had suspected something like this, but to see it actually happen and to be powerless to do anything in this world left him cold.

"It's time," Michael said, interrupting Gabriel thoughts. "You're going to your world now, and when you get there, your Grace will be fully restored." Michael waved his hand across Gabriel, and he was gone.

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Gabriel turned to see Lucifer make a grab for Tillie, only to have her fall to her knees in front of their eyes. Seconds later, she was unconscious on the ground.

"I had nothing to do that," Lucifer claimed, backing away from the woman. Gabriel didn't even bother to answer, for he had been expecting this since he was first assigned this mission. But it didn't mean he was any less saddened to see it happen. He leaned down beside Tillie to check, just to make sure. But as he did so, she completely disappeared. He leapt back, startled at this change in events.

"And that? Did you have anything to do with that?" Gabriel accused Lucifer.

"What would I need with a dead body?" Lucifer sneered.

"I think it is time you and your lackey leave," Gabriel demanded. "There is nothing more for you here and if you decide to stick around it will be at your own peril." Without another word, Lucifer and Meg disappeared, just as Michael returned.

Looking around, he was more surprised at the fact that Tillie was gone than he was that Lucifer and Meg had departed. "Where is she?" he demanded to know. "She isn't supposed to be gone yet!"

For the first time, Castiel spoke. "I warned you not to underestimate our guest, brother. He used Kali to help concoct a back-up plan for both of them."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Tillie opened her eyes. Wherever she was, it was all white and terribly bright. Thank goodness her head no longer hurt or this would be torture. Off in the distance she saw a figure walking toward her. As the person got closer, she could tell it was a man wearing a white shirt and jeans with a beard, holding a beer in his hand.

"Oh God," she moaned, holding her head in her hands.

"That's the general idea," he answered with a smirk.

"Chuck? Really?" Tillie pleaded. "I mean, I never really bought that idea on the show."

"Yeah, neither did I," he replied. "But this is about what is familiar to you, just like everything else you have seen so far."

"Well, I suppose it is better than man with a long beard and a white robe like the pictures from Sunday school," she sighed. "I never bought that idea either. I always figured God was bigger than that. So, is this Heaven? It seems….empty."

"No, it isn't Heaven and it isn't Iowa either," he explained. "It is more like a waiting room, until you move on to your next…assignment. Your time in your world is done. My kids there showed you that. But I didn't have them tell you that you have work to do elsewhere."

Tillie didn't want to ask. She didn't think she needed to ask. If she had been writing fiction about things that were actually happening in Gabriel's world, she had a pretty strong suspicion about where she was going and what she would be doing.

"Yeah, you're right about all of that," he said. Tillie gulped. She shouldn't be surprised that God could read her mind, but it was still awkward. At least her thoughts were pretty straight forward right now.

"That's not all you need to know," he admitted, looking down and shuffling his feet nervously. Great, she thought. What was so bad that God was nervous about telling her?

"Oh, I guess I am not nervous," he laughed. "It is more of an embodiment of Chuck's characteristics." He paused for a moment before continuing. "My own prodigal son figured out that he was going home, and that you weren't all that healthy. He involved Kali in a scheme to take you home with him, so he could heal you when you got there. But there will be side effects, for both of you. He didn't know I was already planning on sending you there anyway." And then, he continued to explain exactly what it was that Gabriel and Kali had done.

"What!" Tillie yelled at him. "How could you let this happen?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "My kids have free will, too. Gabriel sort of paved the way for all of that. And it didn't really interfere with my overall plans. In fact, as much as the side effects might be difficult to work through, in the end, it will help my plans in that dimension, not hurt them, so I'm good with it."

Tillie shook her head and sighed. Clearly angels didn't fall far from the tree. "So will I remember all of this when I show up there? Because I would really like to kick his ass for not even asking me or telling me about this."

"Nope, sorry," he said, "You will show up in that reality the same way you left yours. Some of your memories from this time in the waiting room will gradually come back. But when you first get there, you will have no recollections of being here. You won't even be…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…I get it," Tillie sighed. "Let's get this show on the road. I would like to get back to life sometime soon."

_*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*_

Dean Winchester sat on the couch at Bobby's house channel surfing. He was bored out of his ever loving mind. He and Sam and stopped here a few days ago to do some research and take a quick break, and they hadn't been able to leave because of a late winter snow that hadn't let up. He had watched just about everything he could stomach on television and now it was down to a choice between watching some lame cheerleading movie called _Fired Up_, or reading a book. Both would lead to endless ribbing from his brother and Bobby. But maybe the book could be classified as research. But still, cheerleaders…

As Sam walked into the room to join him, they heard a clap of thunder that startled them both.

"What the hell was that?" Dean exclaimed.

"Thunder, you idjit," Bobby answered as he followed Sam.

"In the snow?" Sam asked

"Ain't you ever heard of thundersnow?" Bobby said. "It's a thunderstorm in the snow."

"And it is very rare," Castiel said, as he appeared in the living room. "It shouldn't be occurring in these conditions. Something else is happening."

"Whoa, Cas," Dean said. "Nice to see you, too."

Just then, another crack of thunder could be heard, this time much closer. The lights in the house flickered out, and when they came back on, a woman with dark brown hair lay crumpled in the middle of the floor.

Sam was the first one to reach her, and as he rolled her over he stammered, "I…I think she's dead."

"Cas, who is she and why is her dead ass here?" Dean demanded.

"I have no answers to that Dean. I just sensed something highly unusual. Something from outside our world, in fact, in this area and I came to investigate."

Sam noticed a locket around her neck and took a closer look. "I might not know why she is here," Sam said. "But this locket has her name on it. Ethel…Ethel Chambers."

At the mention of her name, Castiel gripped his head, cried out and fell to his knees. Dean rushed to his side, "Cas, man. Are you okay?"

The sky roared with thunder once again, this time shaking the very foundations of the house. A bright flash appeared in the center of the room and the humans had to shield their eyes. As it dissipated, they saw one of the last people they ever expected to see again.

"Move out of the way, Sammy," Gabriel commanded. "I've got work to do. Resurrection is hard enough with out your Gigantor limbs in the way."

The three men just gaped at the archangel as he made his way across the room liked he owned the place and began the work he had planned back in another dimension.

**A/N: So thanks as always for your continued feedback. Gabriel's story of life in another dimension is over. But obviously, I have opened the door for something else else to be told. When that is up and ready to go, I will post a note for you to let you know...don't worry. It shouldn't be long.**


	17. Chapter 17 Final Note

A/N: So just a quick note to let anyone know who has been following this story (and might be interested) that I have started the sequel and the first chapter is up and posted. The title is _**The Blind Side.**_ Also, this site was giving me fits yesterday. This was ready to post yesterday, but I couldn't access my account in order to do so. I was, however, able to access my livejournal account and post it over there. So you always welcome to follow me there (as auntmo9).These days, it is six of one, half a dozen of another with the way either of these sites are behaving.

Thanks so much for all of the reviews, favorites and story allerts. It meant a great deal to me and helped keep prompt me to writing more. I hope you enjoy the next one just as much!

Aunt Mo


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